Beaver Volleyball to host Dig Pink Match ahead of home-and-away weekend

BSU Volleyball hosts Minnesota Crookston Thursday before traveling to No. 5 St. Cloud State

The Bemidji State University Volleyball team has a rare home-and-away Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference weekend ahead of them as the Beavers prepare to host University of Minnesota Crookston Thursday at the BSU Gymnasium. The Beavers will then travel south to St. Cloud, Minn., to face No. 5 St. Cloud State Saturday.

Thursday’s match between the Beavers (5-9, 0-6 NSIC) and Golden Eagles (3-11, 0-6 NSIC) will also be the Dig Pink Match hosted by Bemidji State Athletics to help support Breast Cancer Awareness.

The Beavers battle the Golden Eagles Thursday, Oct. 17 at the BSU Gymnasium with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m. Fans can watch the match online at NSICNetwork.com/bsubeavers and listen to play-by-play provided by the Beaver Radio Network on the stream or on the radio at FM 106.3.

Saturday’s match will also be streamed online on the NSICNetwork.

Bemidji State enters the weekend’s action tied for 12th in the NSIC standings with an 0-6 league record and is looking to snap a seven-match losing skid. The Beavers are 28-23 all-time against the Golden Eagles and have won three of the last five matches between the two teams including a 3-1 victory last season. BSU is 12-9 versus UMC when playing on its home court in Bemidji.

The Beavers rank 12th in the conference with a team hitting percentage of .167 while they sit 14th averaging 9.60 kills per set. The Beavers also rank 12th in blocks per set (1.65) and 15th in digs per set (13.76) but are in the top-half of the conference averaging 1.73 aces per set (6th).

Senior Ashley Crowl drives the Beavers’ offense and has produced 203.0 points this season. She stands fifth in the NSIC averaging 3.69 points per set. 30 of those points have been off the serve which leads the conference and is 47th in Division II. She averages 2.96 kills per set on the attack to sit 12th in the NSIC and is hitting a t a .116 clip.

She is followed by fifth-year senior Rylie Bjerklie who is averaging 3.26 points per set after having totaled 179.5 points so far this season. She leads the team hitting at a .279 percentage, the 19th best hitting percentage in the conference while also helping defend the Beavers’ net and is tied for the team lead with 41.0 blocks.

She is joined at the net by junior Zayda Priebe who has also totaled 41 blocks and has added 79 kills on the offensive side.

Bemidji State’s attack is fueled by senior Emily Wade has set the ball in every match this season. She has totaled 450 assists in 55 sets and is ninth in the NSIC with a 8.18 assists per set average. She has 2,375 career assists which is the seventh most all-time at Bemidji State.

In the backcourt, junior Jada Wlodarczyk centers the Beavers’ defense as the libero and has totaled 200 digs in 55 sets. She is one of 14 student-athletes with 200 digs already this season and is 11th in the NSIC averaging 3.64 per set.