Bucs lose a thriller to the Bluejays
Fans who attended the volleyball contest in Blue Earth on Oct. 3, featuring the host Buccaneers against the visiting Waseca Bluejays left the gymnasium exhausted after the two teams battled for five sets to determine a winner. Unfortunately for Buccaneer fans, it was the Bluejays who went home with the 3-2 victory.
The scores were 22-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-21, 18-16.
“We were playing really well and just couldn’t pull it off in the end,” BEA coach Donna Nawrocki said. “It was a great team effort.”
The Bucs started off the night by winning the first two games.
In the first game, the Maroon and Gold were trailing 22-21 when Tailor Douglas stepped to the service line. A kill by the Bucs’ Autumn Gordon knotted the score at 22 all. An attempted kill by the Bluejays sailed out of bounds to give the home team a 23-22 lead. Anna Mwangi’s perfectly placed hit found the floor on Waseca’s side of the court to make it 24-22. The Bluejays couldn’t return the next serve by Douglas which gave the Bucs the first set.
BEA won the second set to take a 2-0 lead but Waseca rallied to win the third and fourth sets to tie the match at two sets apiece.
In the fifth set, the score had been tied ten times before Waseca opened up a 13-10 lead. BEA rallied and forged a 14-14 tie. The Bucs ended up fighting off two match points before the Bluejays finally triumphed 18-16.
Gordon led the team at the net with 26 kills. She also had two ace blocks. Douglas had nine kills, Mwangi had six, Taylor Ripley had four and Sarah Dohm had two. Mwangi had three ace blocks and Laura Steinhauer added two.
Madison Ehrich led the team in set assists with 20 while Ripley had 17.
Madelyn Ferguson led the team with 31 digs followed by Gordon with 23 and Douglas with 15.
Ripley had nine service points and one ace on 18-for-19 serving. Ehrich was 16-for-18 at the service line with two aces for eight points. Douglas had eight points while going 15-for-16 at the service line. Ferguson was 12-for-13 with two aces and six points. Gordon got all 15 of her serves in, including two aces. She finished with five points.
The volleyball team is back in action on Oct. 7, when they go on the road to battle the Martin County West Mavericks.