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BEA volleyball team grounds Eagles

Girls defeat New Ulm in four games for Big South Conference win

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Sep 10, 2023

All eyes are on Blue Earth Area’s Hailey Becker (11) as she keeps the ball in play against New Ulm on Sept. 5. In addition to her teammates on the bench and the crowd in the stands, fellow players Kyla Roiger and Madelyn Ferguson are also keeping their eyes on the action. BEA defeated New Ulm 3-1.

It was an exciting night at the Blue Earth Area gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 5, when the Buccaneers defeated the New Ulm Eagles in Big South Conference volleyball action 25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22.

The Bucs jumped out to a 5-0 lead the opening game and never trailed. The Eagles, who trailed by 11 points at 22-11, had a couple of scoring runs at the end of the game to make it closer before BEA shut the door for the 25-19 victory.

The second game saw New Ulm take an early 5-4 lead. And, although BEA would tie the game at 11-11, they were unable to pull in front of the Eagles. The visitors eventually extended their advantage to eight points at 21-13 and held on for the 25-20 triumph.

The pivotal third game saw the Bucs fall behind early 4-1 and the Eagles maintained their advantage until midway through the game.

BEA trailed 15-14 when Bucs’ coach Donna Nawrocki inserted reserve Tailor Douglas to serve. By the time the junior was done the Bucs had rattled off eight consecutive points to take a 22-15 lead.

The Maroon and Gold were still leading 23-17 when libero Taylor Klabunde delivered an ace serve to make the score 24-17. The Eagles returned Klabunde’s next serve out of bounds to give the Bucs the 25-17 victory.

Leading two games to one, BEA’s Hailey Becker served her team to a 3-0 lead to begin the fourth game.

The Eagles overcame a 5-2 deficit with four straight points to take their only lead of the game at 6-5.

After the Bucs had tied the game at 6-6, Madelyn Ferguson delivered an ace serve to put BEA on top for good. New Ulm was able to pull to within one point of BEA numerous times but was never able to pull into a tie with the Bucs.

Late in the game, with the Bucs leading 23-22, BEA senior middle hitter Kyla Roiger tipped the ball to an open area for a point to put the Bucs one point away from the win. With Ferguson at the service line again, BEA got the point they needed when New Ulm’s return of a ball tipped by Becker ended up out of bounds to give the Bucs the 25-22 win.

A number of BEA players had a good night at the service line led by Klabunde and Becker. Each player was credited with 11 service points. Klabunde was 17-for-18 serving with three aces while Becker was 16-for-19 with two aces. Douglas ended up going 11-for-11 with two aces and eight points. Berkley Hagedorn was successful on all 15 of her serves with one ace and seven points. Ferguson finished with six points and one ace while going 13-for-14 at the service line.

Eckmann and Roiger both reached double figures in kills with Eckmann finishing with 14 and Roiger tallying 13. Kate Armon added seven kills while Anna Mwangi had four and Hagedorn finished with three.

Becker ended the evening with 36 set assists.

On defense it was Armon leading the way with 14 digs followed closely by Klabunde with 12. Ferguson finished with eight, Becker had six, Hagedorn finished with five and Douglas had three.

The victory was the first of the year for the Bucs who evened their conference record at 1-1. Their overall record stands at 1-2.