Beavers lose a see-saw battle against a powerful NCC St. Cloud team

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Sept. 5, 1998

By Devlyn Brooks

The BSU Beaver volleyball team fell to .500 again Friday night, losing a see-saw battle to NCC power St. Clould State University 15-8, 9-15, 15-12, 8-15 and 12-15.

The Beavers -- whose self-confidence has been brimming since a 2-2 finish at the Northern Michigan Tournament to open the season -- dove, scraped, scrambled and hustled on every point to force the Huskies to play at the top of their game in the North Country Tournament's marquee match-up.

Even late in the fifth set when St. Cloud was up 14-9, the Beavers clawed their way point by point to come within 14-12 of the victors.

The loss dropped the Beavers to 3-3 on the season, but with losses to two nationally ranked teams and tough St. Cloud, BSU has shown it is determined to better the 1997 squad who finished with the program's first 20-plus with season in a decade.

Fifth-year head coach Donna Palivec said earlier in the week that her squad has walked onto the court in every match thinking they can win, and the attitude change in the program can be visibly seen in the team's starting six.

In the first game, BSU jumped to an early 3-0 lead before turning over the ball and giving up four quick points.

Each team fought to keep control of the ball, but BSU's couple of two-point runs outpaced the Huskies who couldn't muster more than a point in their own rallies.

BSU's Beth Virnig served the game's final two points, with St. Cloud committing errors on each.

In the second, the Beavers looked as if they were working quickly on a second win, gaining a 4-0 lead on junior setter Michele Dinius' serving.

But after a BSU sideout, St. Cloud regained its composure, rattling off nine points on four Beaver errors, two Huskies' blocks, two kills and a service ace by St. Cloud's Andrea Thul.

It was the Beavers turn to rebound in the third, a long set in which neither team strung together many extensive rallies.

BSU wrapped the game up with five St. Cloud errors, five Bemidji kills, one block and four service aces. The Beavers' Peggy Hammel and Kristin Meyerson each had an ace, and Sarah Lundbohm tallied two in the set.

The fourth set mirrored much of the third, only that the roles were reversed. The Huskies were the ones stringing together rallies of three, three, four and three points to taste victory.

Between the net play of St. Cloud's blockers and the Beavers' errors, BSU never got into sync in the fourth, dropping it 8-15.

In the tie-breaker, the Beavers lost control quickly, slipping to a 4-0 deficit before rallying, coming as close as 8-6 on several kills and St. Cloud errors. However, two points would be as close as they would come.

The Huskies had some trouble closing out the match, stalling on match point a handful of times, before they put the pesky Beavers away.

BSU dropped match point when Virnig served wide, giving St. Cloud the win 15-12.

BSU will host Mayville (N.D.) State University today at 2 p.m., and another NAIA school in Valley City (N.D.) State at 4 p.m.

Other matches in BSU's North Country Tournament include Mayville versus St. Cloud at 10 a.m. and St. Cloud versus Valley City at noon.