BEA’s Autumn Gordon goes for a kill against MVL in volleyball action at Blue Earth last week.

The Fairmont Cardinals got by the visiting Blue Earth Area Buccaneers in volleyball last Tuesday, Sept. 24, by a 3-1 score.

Fairmont won the first set 25-20 before BEA rallied to take the second set 25-23. The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead when they won the third set 25-17 and closed out the contest with a 25-18 victory in the fourth set.

Autumn Gordon led the Bucs at the net with 20 kills and two ace blocks. Tailor Douglas added eight kills while Taylor Ripley had five and Anna Mwangi had four to go along with her team-leading three ace blocks.

Madison Ehrich and Ripley shared the setting duties with Ehrich finishing with 20 set assists and Ripley totaling 19.

Gordon led the teams in digs with 14 followed by Madelyn Ferguson with 13 and Douglas with 12.

The leading server was Ripley with 12 service points on 17-for-20 serving. Ehrich had eight service points on 13-for-14 serving while Douglas was 15-for-16 at the service line for seven points.

MVL 3, BEA 2

For the second time in a row on their home court, the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers volleyball team was involved in a five -set thriller.

After defeating New Ulm in five sets the previous week, BEA came up short against Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Sept. 23. MVL won the match 16-25, 25-18, 26-24, 16-25, 15-10.

The two teams had met for a two-set match at the United South Central Invitational on Sept. 21 with the Bucs narrowly winning both sets.

BEA got off to a good start in the first set against MVL, who appeared to be a little out of sync. The Bucs built an early 10-2 lead and the Chargers never got closer than seven points.

With BEA on top 23-16, Anna Mwangi stuffed a ball at the net for the Bucs’s 24th point and Autumn Gordon’s kill was blocked out of bounds to give the Maroon and Gold the winning point and a 1-0 lead.

If the Chargers were out of sync in the first set, it was the Bucs who were not hitting on all cylinders in the second set. BEA fell behind early and any rally attempt by the Bucs was quickly snuffed out by the Chargers.

MVL won the second set 25-18 to tie the match at one set apiece.

The Bucs never led in the third set. They fell behind early, tied the score at 6-6, but watched the Chargers pull away to a 15-9 lead.

A BEA rally cut MVL’s lead to 17-15 before the Chargers responded with three straight points to open up a five-point advantage at 20-15.

With the visitors holding a 23-19 lead, BEA fought back and came within one point of the Chargers before a kill by the Bucs’ Tailor Douglas tied the score at 24-24. Unfortunately for BEA, MVL scored the next two points to win the set 26-24.

The fourth game started off pretty even. With the score tied 9-9, BEA’s Taylor Ripley unleashed a kill shot for a point that gave the Bucs the lead for good.

BEA pulled away with the winning point coming on an ace serve by Douglas. BEA’s 25-16 victory in the fourth set sent the contest to a fifth, and deciding, set.

The Chargers took the early lead in the fifth set but the Bucs rallied to go on top 4-3.

The set was tied at 5-5 when MVL scored to take the lead for good. BEA attempted to rally but the Chargers shut the door on their attempts and won the fifth set 15-10 to give them the match victory.

Leading the Bucs’ defensive efforts were Madelyn Ferguson with 19 digs, Douglas with 17, Gordon with 25 and Ripley with six.

Madison Ehrich led BEA with 20 set assists while Ripley finished with 10.

Gordon tallied 15 kills followed by Douglas with five and Ripley with four.

Douglas had nine service points and two aces on 18-for-19 serving. Ruby Ziegler was 11-for-11 at the service line with seven points.

USC Invitational

Blue Earth Area participated in a seven-team tournament hosted by United South Central on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Bucs finished in fourth place out of the seven teams.

Round 1

BEA 2, Blooming Prairie 0

Led by Tailor Douglas with 12 service points and six digs, BEA defeated Blooming Prairie 25-18, 25-23.

Autumn Gordon had five kills while Madison Ehrich had six set assists.

Round 2

Maple River 1, BEA 1

Though the teams split the sets, Maple River got the victory by scoring more total points in the two sets.

The Eagles won the first set 25-14 while the Bucs were victorious in the second set 25-16.

Gordon led in kills with seven, Taylor Ripley led in set assists with eight, Madelyn Ferguson led in digs with seven and Douglas was the leading server going 12-for-12 with eight points.

Round 3

NRHEG 2, BEA 0

The Panthers of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva defeated the Bucs 25-17, 25-7.

“We struggled in the second set to get any offense flowing from our serve receive,” Bucs’ coach Donna Nawrocki said.

Gordon and Anna Mwangi each had three kills, Ripley had four set assists and Ferguson led the team with six digs.

Round 4

BEA 2, MVL 0

“This was a good rebound game for us before the break,” Nawrocki said.

The Bucs won the first set 25-20 and triumphed in the second set 25-23.

Gordon led the team on offense with five kills, Ripley had five set assists and Ehrich had four. Ferguson led the defense with eight digs, Ripley had seven and Douglas had six.

Ruby Ziegler was the leading server with six points on 8-for-8 serving.

Round 5

USC 2, BEA 0

USC won by the scores of 25-12, 25-13.

Leading the way in set assists was Ripley with nine. Ferguson topped the Bucs with 11 digs and Gordon led the team with five kills.

Round 6

ML-GHEC-T 2, BEA 0

Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman won two close games against BEA 25-22, 25-19.

“I was happy with how we finished the tourney,” Nawrocki said. “We had stronger play with mostly back and forth points.”

Gordon led the Bucs with six kills, Ehrich paced the team with eight set assists while Ferguson topped the team with 12 digs. Leading BEA in serving was Douglas with six service points on 10-for-10 serving.