Eloise Blair, pictured above, was honored before the BEA game against New Ulm for recording her 1,000 career dig. Blair is currently the Bucs’ libero.

The Blue Earth Area volleyball team showed a lot of determination when they faced the New Ulm Eagles in a Big South Conference East Division contest in Blue Earth on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

However, New Ulm prevailed with a three-set victory. The winning scores were 26-24, 25-18, 25-21.

Eloise Blair was honored before action got underway for achieving 1,000 career digs, a feat she accomplished at the United South Central Tournament which was held the previous Saturday.

The Eagles and Bucs played to a 5-5 tie early in the first set before the Eagles pulled away to a 14-7 lead.

BEA started to work their way back into the scoring. An Alicia Machacek kill off of a Hailey Becker set narrowed New Ulm’s lead to 14-10. Another Machacek kill had the Bucs within three points of the Eagles.

New Ulm had increased their lead back to five points at 22-17 when Becker stepped to the service line.

BEA rattled off six straight points to take a 23-22 lead.

New Ulm then scored two consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead with a chance to serve for the victory.

The Bucs were able to score and tie the game at 24-24 before the Eagles prevailed with two consecutive points for the 26-24 win.

New Ulm was in control in the second set and cruised to a 25-18 victory.

The third set began with the Eagles taking a 4-0 lead but the Bucs rallied to tie the game at 5-5.

Trailing 8-6, BEA’s Kylee Eckmann pounded a kill shot to the floor for the Bucs’ seventh point. The Eagles’ attempt at a kill on the next point sailed out of bounds and the two teams were tied at 8-8.

New Ulm would build their lead to four points at 15-11 and maintain their margin until late in the match.

With the Eagles leading 23-19, the Bucs struck for two consecutive points to narrow their deficit to two points at 23-21.

The visitors ended the Bucs’ attempt at a rally by scoring the next two points to win the third set 25-21.

BEA traveled to St. Clair on Oct. 1, for an invitational tournament. They will play at Waseca on Monday, Oct. 3. Their next home game is on Thursday, Oct. 6, when they host the Fairmont Cardinals.

United South Central Tournament

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers’ volleyball team spent a lot of time on the court on Saturday, Sept. 24, when they traveled to Wells to take part in the United South Central Tournament.

BEA had six matches on the day and compiled a 3-3 record. They were victorious over Minnesota Valley Lutheran, United South Central and the Truman/ Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain Jag- uars.

The Bucs suffered losses at the hands of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, Maple River and Albert Lea.

BEA 2, MVL 0

The Bucs opened the day with a 2-0 sweep over the Chargers from Minnesota Valley Lutheran. BEA won both sets by identical 25-18 scores.

Alicia Machacek led the team on offense with seven kills, Hailey Becker and Kylee Eckmann each had four and Berkley Hagedorn added three.

Machacek and Becker were also strong at the net on defense with Machacek recording four ace blocks and Becker tallying three.

Haley Kalis led the team with eight set assists while Becker added seven.

Eloise Blair led the defense with seven digs. Kate Armon finished with five and Taylor Klabunde had four.

Top servers were Klabunde who had 13 points while connecting on all 16 of her serves. She also had three aces.

Kalis finished with five service points while Becker and Blair each had four.

BEA 1, USC 1

The Bucs and the Rebels each won one set but BEA had more total points so they got the credit for the victory.

BEA took the first set 25-15. USC triumphed in the second set 25-18.

Blair led the team on defense with eight digs. Rylan Storbeck had five and Klabunde had four.

Kalis and Storbeck each had five set assists while Machacek and Klabunde each had three kills.

Becker contributed two ace blocks.

The leading server was Storbeck. She had seven points on nine of 11 serving. Klabunde finished with four points while going a perfect 8-for-8 from the service line.

BEA 2, T-ML-GHEC 0

BEA took the first game against the Jaguars by a score of 25-18 and completed the two-game sweep by winning the second game 25-20.

Kalis used 11 set assists to help set up BEA’s front line and Becker responded with five kills while Machacek added four.

Also contributing at the front line was Kylee Eckman who had two ace blocks.

Blair led the team with seven digs while Klabunde added five.

At the service line, Blair got 11 of her 13 serves in for 10 points, including seven aces.

Klabunde also had a good game at the service line with nine points and two aces on 12 of 14 serves.

NRHEG 2, BEA 0

The Bucs battled hard and dropped the first set to the perennial powerhouse Panthers 25-20. However, NRHEG increased their margin of victory in the second set with a 25-9 triumph.

Machacek had eight kills while Armon added three.

Kalis contributed five set assists. Becker had four.

Blair was active in the back line with 12 digs. Klabunde had four while Becker and Armon each had three.

Klabunde hit all 10 of her serves and was credited with five service points. Kalis had four service points while making all eight of her serves.

Maple River 2, BEA 0

The Eagles defeated the Bucs by identical 25-18 scores in both of their sets.

Klabunde had another perfect game at the service line getting all 10 of her serves in for six points.

Blair was credited with six points while connecting on seven of her 10 serves.

Leading the way with 11 digs was Blair while Klabunde came up with eight and Becker added seven.

Kalis led the Bucs with eight set assists with Becker adding five.

Armon had six kills to lead the team. Machacek followed with four while Becker and Eckmann each had three.

Albert Lea 2, BEA 0

Albert Lea from the Big Nine Conference was BEA’s final opponent for the day.

The Tigers defeated the Bucs 25-13 in the first set and closed out the tournament with a 25-18 triumph in the second set.

Machacek led the team in kills with four followed by Becker with three.

Kalis led in set assists with seven.

Blair and Kalis each had three digs.

Klabunde and Becker each finished with four service points. Klabunde was a perfect 8 of 8 serving while Becker also made all of her seven serves.