BEA spikes Saints, win 3-1

Whitney Pirsig
The Blue Earth Area Volleyball team played a match against St. James that kept fans on the edge of the bleachers.
The Bucs won the match, 3-1 but not without a little fight from the Saints.
The Bucs started out on top in the first game, keeping a lead throughout most of the beginning. The saints decided to tie up the first game at 10-10.
The Bucs would sneak ahead by a point or two, only to be countered by the Saints sneaking in a couple more points to tie the game back up.
Eventually, the Saints sent a serve out of bounds which allowed the Bucs to gain the footing they needed.
Audrey McDonald tipped the ball over the net and found an opening and brought the Bucs score up to 23-20.
BEA thought they had the game in the bag, but St. James gained control of the serve and tied the game back up, 23-23.
The Saints next serve landed out, giving the ball back to the Bucs.
A hit made by St. James fell just short of making it over the net.
The error earned the Bucs game point in the first set.
The second game of the match started off with a kill by Hassing which set BEA up for a lead in the beginning of the set.
The Bucs put the score at 8-2 before the Saints started to come up from behind.
St. James and BEA’s scores tied up at 12-12.
Possession of the ball went back and forth a couple times before Monica Krieger stepped up to the service line for the Bucs, serving two aces in a row which allowed the Bucs to sneak ahead once again.
They couldn’t stay there for long, as both teams continued keep the score neck and neck.
The teams played a nice volley when the Saints scored a tie-breaking point which gave them the momentum to win the game, 25-22.
In the beginning of the third game, the Bucs saw an opportunity to get in the lead and stay there.
The Bucs kept at least a 4-point lead over the Saints for a majority of the game.
It was a kill by Janessa Jahnke that bumped the score up to 24-13 and gave possession of the ball back to the Bucs.
Megan Wirtjes served, scoring game point for BEA, ending the third game 24-14.
The Bucs, knowing that winning this game would win the match, decided to start the next game off with some power.
Hassing went in for a hit and scored the first point of the game with a kill.
Possession of the ball bounced back and forth between the Bucs and the Saints a couple times.
Then, Whitney Pirsig had a nice hit that killed the ball, won the serve back for the Bucs and brought the score to 3-2.
McDonald stepped up to the service line, sinking an ace.
The Bucs continued on in the lead arriving to game point with a score of 24-17.
St. James served the ball but it was a Hassing hit, similar to the one that started the fourth game, which ended the game, 25-18.
The Bucs won the match against the Saints, 3-1. This puts BEA’s record at 2 wins and 1 loss overall for the season and 1-0 in the South Central Conference.
The Bucs will play their next match in St. Peter against the Saints at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and New Ulm in Blue Earth on Thursday.
LeSueur-Henderson 3, BEA 0
The Blue Earth Area volleyball team fell to the LeSueur-Henderson Giants in their first home game of the season, and their first loss of the season.
The visiting Giants were quick to take the first three sets of the match at the Aug. 30 game in Blue Earth.
Despite the quick loss of the match, the Bucs put their best foot forward, knowing that LeSueur-Henderson was going to be a challenge from the start.
The Bucs tried to keep the score relatively close during the first set, but eventually finished the first game at 25-11.
The second game slipped out from the Bucs a little more quickly. The Giants took the win with a score of 25-9.
BEA gained a bit of momentum during the end of the second set that seemed to carry over to the beginning of the third game.
The Bucs used the momentum to keep their foot in their door throughout the third set.
Although the Giants held a lead over them throughout the entire game, the Bucs tried to follow closely behind.
The Giants won the third game with a score of 25-18, shutting the Bucs out, 3-0.
Janessa Jahnke led the Bucs with 6 kills, 5 digs and 1 ace block.
Krista Hassing also stood out in the match against the Giants. She had 4 kills, 4 digs and 1 ace block.
Nicole Krinke excelled in set assists for the Bucs, coming away with 9 set assists that night. She also served 5 of 7, one of them a service ace.
Krinke’s serving scored 2 points for the Bucs.
The Bucs may have lost the match to LeSueur-Henderson but they showed that they meant business on the court this season.
The Bucs will play their next match in St. Peter against the Saints at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and New Ulm in Blue Earth on Thursday.