KENOSHA, Wis. – The Bemidji State University volleyball team improved to 3-1 on the season with a pair of 3-0 sweeps against University of Minnesota Crookston and University of Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday afternoon. The Beavers (3-1, 0-0 NSIC) started the day by downing the Golden Eagles 3-0 (24-26, 25-20, 25-19) followed by also defeating the Rangers in three sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-22).

“Super happy for our team and couldn’t be prouder of the way they played and competed,” said head coach Kevin Ulmer. “Anna had another fantastic day and Maddie Mackinac’s setting was fantastic the way she set our tempo and then our backcourt was excellent and dug lights out. They just look like a team and they’ve been playing together for a while and its fun to see them come together so early.”

Bemidji State 3, Minnesota Crookston 0
The first match of the day was a dominant performance by the Beavers’ attack and out-hit the Golden Eagles 45 kills to 39 while also hitting at a .279 hitting efficiency. The Beavers rallied in the first set after trailing UMC 24-21 late in the set and scored the next five points to win the set 26-24. BSU then responded with a 25-20 win in set two and earned its first sweep of the season after downing Minnesota Crookston 25-29 in set three.

Sophomore Anna Averkamp put together a career effort to lead the BSU attack after totaling 18 kills in 31 attacks while only committing five attacking errors for a .419 hitting percentage. Freshman Greta Paszek added nine kills and hit .300 while Mary Campbell added seven kills.

Freshman Maddie Mackinac continued her stellar play from last night and coordinated the Beavers’ attack assisting on 38 kills while also leading the BSU defense with 11 digs.

Bemidji State 3, Wisconsin-Parkside 0
The Beavers had another dominant performance on the attack against the Rangers in match two of the day hitting at a .307 efficiency as a team and outhit UWP, 44-32. Bemidji State began the match with a 25-23 win in set one followed by a 25-17 win in set two and 25-22 win in set three for its second consecutive sweep.

Averkamp followed her career performance with another double-digit kill total, this time racking in 14 kills to lead the team while also hitting at a .286 efficiency. Senior Maddie Filipiak was excellent in the middle totaling nine kills in 11 attacks for a match-high .818 hitting percentage. Filipiak and Averkamp each led the Beavers’ net defense by earning four blocks.

Mackinac had another excellent match passing the ball and recorded her third 40+ assist match of the season by totaling 40 against the Rangers. Junior Emma Hallmann led the Beavers’ backcourt with 10 digs.

“Obviously we know we’re going to challenged more than that in our conference,” continued Ulmer. “But we’re happy with how things went this weekend and really loved their composure when they were down late.”

Bemidji State returns home before hitting the road again next weekend when they travel to Houghton, Mich., to take part in the Northern Michigan Tournament.

For more information on the Bemidji State volleyball program, follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BSUBeaversVB), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers and Volleyball Facebook) or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Multimedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.

Nestled in Northern Minnesota’s wooden region and located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, BSU sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

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