Kyannah Brandt, left, gets ready to return a serve in BEA's match against Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Aug. 28.

The Blue Earth Area volleyball team hosted their first match of the 2026 season against the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers on Friday, Aug. 28.

The sets were close but in the end MVL went home with the 3-1 victory. The scores of the sets were 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17.

Both teams had played matches the previous night with the Chargers defeating the St. James Saints 3-1 while the Bucs lost to Windom Area 3-0.

MVL jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in their first set against BEA. The Bucs were trailing by 10 points at 22-12 when they scored six consecutive points to pull within four points of the Chargers at 22-18. That is as close at the Maroon and Gold would get and MVL closed out the set with a 25-19 victory.

BEA once again found themselves trailing in the second set of the evening and were down 12-6 before a kill by Hailey Hanson made the score 12-7 and seemed to give the Bucs some momentum.

Taylynn Amudnson stepped to the service line and the Chargers returned her first serve into the net to give BEA eight points. A net violation against MVL resulted in the Bucs’ ninth point. The visitors were unable to handle Amundson’s next serve and the Chargers’ lead was suddenly down to two points at 12-10 which led to a timeout by the MVL coach.

When the teams returned to the court, MVL sandwiched two out-of-bounds hits around an ace serve by Amundson to give the Bucs their first lead of the set at 13-12.

The Chargers settled down and regained the lead, eventually increasing their advantage to four points at 20-16 and causing Bucs’ coach Ashlyn Swenning to bring her team to the sidelines for a timeout.

Madie Redepenning and Sammy Meyers combined to block a kill by MVL and cut the Chargers’ lead to 20-17. MVL was still up by three points at 22-19 when they hit a kill shot into the net to give BEA 20 points.

Another kill by Hanson and a block by Caitlin Eitzmann tied the score at 22-22. MVL scored the next point to take a 23-22 lead before a kill by Eitzmann tied the score at 23-23.

The Bucs moved ahead 24-23 on a perfectly placed hit by Cassie Hagedorn and then scored the winning point on a block by Redepenning.

The third set in the match saw BEA trailing most of the way but keeping the score close. MVL held a 23-21 point lead before closing out the set with a 25-22 victory.

In the fourth set, the Chargers cruised to an 18-7 lead. The Bucs tried to rally but MVL held on to take the set 26-17 and the match three games to one.

Amundson finished the night with 10 service points and three aces, Hagedorn had nine points and four aces while also leading the team with 16 set assists. Hanson had seven points and one ace. Eitzmann led the team in kills with seven.

The Bucs go on the road on Tuesday, Sept. 8 to take on the Maple River Eagles. On Sept. 10 they face Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman at the GHEC High School.

Windom Area 3, BEA 0

The Bucs opened their volleyball season on the road against the Windom Area Eagles. The host team won the match in straight sets, winning 25-8, 25-15, 25-17.