Bemidji State volleyball falls to U-Mary

BISMARCK, N.D. –The Bemidji State volleyball team got off to a good start on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to finish and fell to University of Mary 3-2 (25-18, 25-14, 16-25, 17-25, 16-14) in NSIC play.

BSU (3-6, 1-1 NSIC) used a four-point streak to pull away early and in the first set and used another four-point run to extend their lead again after the Marauders (1-8, 1-1) made things interesting with a five-point run of their own.

Bethany Thompson led the way offensively with seven kills while, freshman Courtney Foxand sophomoreElissa Christensentallied six and five digs, respectively, in a 25-18 win.

In the second set, BSU led the entire way for a 25-14 win.

U-Mary began to climb back into the match in the third set, opening the game by scoring 10 of the first 13 points en route to a 25-16 win.

The Marauders knotted the match up in the fourth. They jumped out to 10-6 lead and never looked back, losing 25-17.

The fifth set saw the Marauders erase a 13-10 lead and outscore the Beavers 6-1 in the final stretch to take the set and the match 16-14.

Thompson (match-high 16 kills and 11 digs) and sophomore setter Courtney Volkmann (career-high 45 assists and 14 digs) each recorded her fourth double-double of the season. Fox had a career-best 14 digs while Christensen led the team with 15 digs.

BSU returns to the court at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they’ll host Minnesota Crookston in their first home match.