The Bemidji State University volleyball team lost to No. 18 Wayne State College Saturday afternoon by a score of 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-13). The Wildcats improve to 19-7 overall and 10-6 in conference play and Bemidji State drops to 5-19 overall and 1-15 in conference action.

The story of the first set was the attacking errors for Bemidji State. BSU had nine attacking errors in the first frame alone and had just six kills. Wayne State set the tone early on the first stanza as it scored the first six points. The six-point deficit and the attacking errors were too much for the Beavers to overcome as they dropped the first set by a score of 25-13.

Bemidji State had its best offensive set in the second with 12 kills on 41 attempts, but it was not enough as the Wildcats took the second frame by a score of 25-16. The Beavers were within striking distance until their own errors doomed them. The score was 12-8 when the errors started happening. WSC’s five of its next eight points were attributed to BSU errors giving it a 20-12 lead and that was too much to overcome.

The Wildcats again set the tone in at the beginning of the third set as they scored 11 of the first 13 points. Wayne State played its best set of the match as it hit .323 in 31 attempts. BSU would cut the lead to seven a couple times, but never got any closer than that as WSC took the third and final set, 25-13.

Individually, Beavers were led by Courtney Volkmann (S, 5-7, Jr., Wadena, Minn.) who had an attacking percentage of .429 on seven attempts with no errors. Volkmann also chipped in 24 assists and five digs.

Bemidji State will hit the road next weekend for its final road trip of the season. The Beavers will face No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul Friday at 7 p.m. and Minnesota State University, Mankato Saturday at 4 p.m. Both teams have defeated BSU earlier this season by scores of 3-0 and 3-2, respectively.