Kate Armon (12) of Blue Earth Area goes up for a kill during a recent contest held in Blue Earth. Armon had 10 service points including two aces, four kills and six digs in the BEA’s five-set loss to Waseca.

Two days after competing in an all-day tournament in St. Clair, the Blue Earth Area volleyball team was back in action on Oct. 3, when they traveled to Waseca to take on the Bluejays in a Big South East Division clash.

The contest turned into an epic five-set battle with three of the sets decided by two points.

Although BEA actually scored more total points, Waseca was eventually victorious in the match by a 3-2 margin. The Bluejays’ winning scores were 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13.

“The girls played hard and played together,” Bucs’ coach Donna Nawrocki said. “They showed a lot of grit on the road.”

Haley Kalis led the team in set assists with 18 while Hailey Becker finished with 13.

A well-balanced front-line attack saw Alicia Machacek collect 10 kills followed by Kylee Eckmann with nine and Becker with eight. Also seeing action at the net were Taylor Klabunde who recorded five kills and Kate Armon with four.

Eckmann also had three ace blocks and Machacek had two.

Klabunde had a big night at the service line with 18 service points on 26 of 27 serving. Eloise Blair added 11 points on 19 of 20 serving while Kalis and Armon each finished with 10 points. Kalis was 17 of 18 at the service line while Armon was 16 of 18. Becker added eight service points on 14 of 17 serving.

Blair had three service aces. Klabunde, Becker and Armon each had two.

The team leader in digs was Blair with 22. Klabunde had 14, Becker had eight, Kalis tallied seven and Armon finished with six.

St. Clair Invitational

Blue Earth Area finished in fourth place at the St. Clair Invitational Volleyball Tournament held on Saturday, Oct. 1. The Bucs won two matches and lost three on the day.

BEA 2, UCA 0

The Bucs opened the tournament with a 2-0 triumph over the United Christian Academy Thunder.

BEA won the first set 25-13 and were victorious in the second set 26-24.

Leading server for the Bucs was Kylee Eckmann with nine points on 10 of 11 serving. She also had three aces.

Haley Kalis, Taylor Klabunde and Hailey Becker each had six service points. Klabunde was 10 of 10 serving with four aces, Becker was 9 of 10 with one ace and Kalis was 8 of 10 with two aces.

Klabunde led the team on defense with nine digs followed by Eloise Blair with seven.

Kalis finished with nine set assists while Becker had four.

Armon led the Bucs with four kills. Alicia Machacek finished with three. Eckmann and Berkley Hagedorn each had two.

BEA 1, St. Clair 1

(BEA wins on points)

The Bucs and the Cyclones split their games. BEA won the first set 25-21 while St. Clair claimed the second set 26-24.

The Bucs got credit for the victory because they outscored the Cyclones 49-47 in total points.

Becker led BEA’s offensive attack with eight kills while also recording six set assists and leading the team in serving with nine points on 12 of 13 serving.

Machacek added four kills and two ace blocks and Klabunde had two kills.

Kalis led the team in set assists with nine.

Blair and Klabunde each had nine digs while Armon finished with seven.

Blair also recorded six service points while hitting all 10 of her serves.

Mountain Lake 2, BEA 0

The Wolverines defeated the Bucs 25-18 and 26-24.

Becker once again led the team in kills with eight. Machacek and Armon each had three.

Becker and Machacek each had two ace blocks while Eckmann finished with one.

Kalis led the team with nine set assists followed by Becker with four.

On defense it was Blair tallying seven digs, Armon recording six and Klabunde finishing with four.

Becker and Klabunde each finished with six service points. Becker was 8 of 10 serving and Klabunde was 9 of 11.

Randolph 2, BEA 1

With a 2-1 record in pool play, the Bucs advanced to the championship bracket where they faced the Randolph Rockets in the first round.

The Rockets won the first set 25-14 but the Bucs rebounded to take the second set 25-23.

It was a close contest in the final set, but Randolph prevailed with a 15-13 victory.

Kalis and Klabunde led the team in service points with seven each. Kalis was a perfect 11 of 11 from the line while Klabunde was 11 of 12. Blair added five points on 9 of 11 serving.

Blair led the defense with 10 digs. Kalis had eight, Armon had four while Klabunde and Becker each recorded three.

Kalis finished with nine set assists. Becker had six.

Becker led the way at the net with eight kills and one ace block. Machacek had four kills and one ace block and Klabunde also finished with four kills.

Mountain Lake 2, BEA 0

The loss to Randolph sent BEA into the third-place contest where they had a rematch against Mountain Lake, who was defeated by Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in the other championship bracket contest.

Once again, the Wolverines got the upper hand over the Bucs, winning 25-20 and 25-23.

Eckmann led the team in kills with six. Machacek and Klabunde each had four.

Kalis contributed 10 set assists with Rylan Storbeck adding five.

Blair led the defense with 12 digs followed closely by Armon who finished with 10. Klabunde had five.

Armon was 6 of 6 serving with four points. Blair, Kalis, Klabunde and Eckmann each finished with three points.