DULUTH, Minn.– The Bemidji State University volleyball team played the last two games of its non-conference schedule on Saturday at the Duluth Volleyball Classic. The Beavers began the day with a 3-2 (25-22, 12-25, 26-28, 25-19, 16-14) comeback win against Erskine College of South Carolina and finished the weekend by making the day a split with a 3-0 loss to Shippensburg (Pa.) University.

Heading into conference action next Friday, BSU holds a 2-4 record after going 1-3 at the season-opening Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic in Kansas last weekend and losing 3-1 to 19th-ranked Ferris State in its Duluth opener on Friday.

“We had some great stats and individual performances, but I was disappointed overall with how things went,” said Bemidji State head coach Wayne Chadwick. “We need to step up and find ways to play more consistently and we’re going to keep working hard to get better.”

In the first match of the day, the Beavers lost a four-point edge in the first set, but recovered to take three of the last four points to preserve a 25-22 win. The Raiders quickly erased BSU’s lead by taking the second set 25-12 and gained a lead of their own by eking out a 28-26 victory in the third, but Bemidji State forced a decisive fifth set by taking charge in Set 4, cruising 25-19.

The final game saw BSU jump out to a 9-5 lead, but Erskine put the Beavers on the brink of their fifth loss of the year with a 9-4 run. Bemidji State turned the potential loss into a win by reeling off three consecutive points, beginning with a rally-stopping kill by Courtney Volkmann (So., S, Wadena, Minn.) and ending with a Kelly Niles (So., OH, Grand Rapids, Minn.) and Rachel Craig (So., MH, Wadena, Minn.) block combination followed by a EC attacking error.

Volkmann and senior Bethany Thompson (OH, Owatonna, Minn.) each recorded her second double-double in as many days. The sophomore setter racked up a career-high 44 assists and 13 digs in addition to six service aces (tied for seventh in a match in program history), while Thompson added 12 digs to a career-best 24 kills.

“Bethany had a great weekend,” Chadwick said. “With the load she’s carrying, the performance she put in this weekend was unbelievable.”

Later in the day, BSU gave 4-2 Shippensburg all it could handle in the first set of the second match of the day for both teams. The Beavers pushed SU to a 25-25 tie, but the Raiders pulled out the two points necessary to secure the win. Shippensburg completed the 3-0 win by posting 25-19 and 25-18 victories in the final two sets of the night.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Craig was in the tournament’s top five in hitting percentage, Volkmann was top five in assists per game and led the six-team round robin in aces per game, and sophomore libero Elissa Christensen (Montevideo, Minn.) was in the top five in digs per game.

The Beavers pick up play on Friday when they head west to play new NSIC member Minot State University to begin conference competition. BSU will face the University of Mary the following day before taking on the University of Minnesota, Crookston on Sept. 18 in its home opener.

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