BEA’s Eloise Blair goes high to spike the ball over the net in the Bucs’ game against the St. Peter Saints.

The St. Peter Saints came to Blue Earth on Thursday night, Nov. 5, to take on the Buccaneers in volleyball. When all was said and done the Saints marched home with a 3-0 victory in a hard fought match. The scores were 25-20, 25-19, 25-18.

“I was very proud of the girls tonight,” BEA coach Donna Nawrocki said. “We are young but we continue to improve at the net and on defense.”

With a lineup which quite often has two freshmen on the court and a squad which only has a total of three seniors, the Bucs are indeed a young team.

“We have a lot of youth but the team has a great attitude,” Nawrocki offers. “They keep working and it shows in the way our offense is also improving.”

St. Peter came into the match with a 6-1 record while BEA had only played four games and had a record of 1-3.

The Bucs fell behind early in the first game and found themselves down by four points with the Saints on top 9-5.

A net serve by St. Peter made the score 9-6 and sent Miya Gustafson to the service line for BEA. Three serves later the Bucs had tied the score at 9-9.

The Saints regained control of the game and slowly built their lead to six points at 20-14.

Another net serve by the visitors made the score 20-15. Eloise Blair went to the service line and the Maroon and Gold scored three more times to pull within two points of the Saints, whose lead was cut to 20-18.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, an unforced error turned the ball back to St. Peter who went on to win the game 25-20.

The second game was a much tighter contest in the beginning as the teams battled to a 10-10 tie.

St. Peter eventually opened up a 16-13 lead only to see BEA fight back and tie the score at 16-16.

The Saints went on a four point run to go on top 20-16 and held on for a 25-19 win.

BEA fought hard in the third game and trailed by only one point at 15-14 before St. Peter pulled away for the 25-18 win.

Liz Beeler led the Bucs with 12 set assists and Gustafson led the team with 16 digs.

Eloise Blair contributed seven kills and nine digs while Gabby Haaland had three kills, one ace block and four points on 9-for-9 serving.

Maci Frommie had three kills and had a good night at the net with four ace blocks.

Hailey Becker was 11-for-12 at the service line and led the team with six points.

St. Jame 3, BEA 1

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers came out on fire in their volleyball game against the St. James Area Saints on Monday night, Nov. 2. But in the end, it was the Saints who would take the match by a 3-1 score.

The Bucs, playing their first home match of the year, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first game with Liz Beeler at the service line and won the game 25-11.

St. James Area turned the tables on BEA in the second game, winning 25-11. The Saints then closed out the match by claiming games three and four, 25-13 and 25-23, respectively.

Two early service aces by Beeler helped the Bucs start the night off on the right foot. A tip and a kill by Hailey Becker and a block by Brita Hougen kept the Saints on their heels while BEA built a 10-0 lead.

St. James Area managed to cut the Bucs’ lead to nine points three times but the Maroon and Gold pulled away for the 14-point win.

The second game was just the opposite of the first game.

Everything that went right for BEA in the first game went wrong in the second game. St. James Area gained the momentum and pulled away for a 25-11 win.

Game three saw the Bucs take a 6-3 lead in the early going. However, the Saints had a streak of six consecutive points to go on top 9-6. BEA gained a point on a side-out to trail by two points at 9-7. But another St. James Area scoring streak spelled doom for the home team.

The Saints scored nine straight points to go up 18-7 and then coasted to the final 25-13 victory.

Game four was the closest contest of the evening. The Saints had the biggest lead of game when they went up by four points at 20-16.

BEA dug in their heels and fought back to forge a tie at 21-21.

The Bucs held the lead at 23-22 before the Saints tallied three consecutive points to win the game 25-23 and go home with a 3-1 match triumph.

Beeler led BEA with 15 set assists and 16 points and four aces on 23-for-23 serving. She also contributed nine digs.

Hougen got all seven of her serves in with one ace and seven points.

Eloise Blair led the team with six kills and 12 digs.

Hailey Becker scored three points while hitting all 10 of her serves. She had five kills and two ace blocks.

Taylor Klabunde finished with 11 digs. Emma Langager had two kills and Gabby Haaland recorded two ace blocks.

BEA is scheduled to travel to New Ulm on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to take on the Eagles.

They return home on Thursday, Nov. 12, to host the Waseca Bluejays.

Look for stories on both of those contests in next week’s Faribault County Register.