VIDEO – Beaver Fever Friday – Amanda Tronick – BSU Volleyball

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The Bemidji State University volleyball team will begin Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this week with three matches. The tilts begin Tuesday as the Beavers battle Highway 2 rival, University of Minnesota Crookston at 7 p.m. In addition to the match versus UMC, BSU will host Wayne State College Friday at 7 p.m. and Augustana College Saturday at 4 p.m.

The bulk of the Beavers’ offfense this season has gone through a pair of sophomores. Jessica Yost (OH, Bemidji, Minn.) and Amanda Tronick (OH, Hutchinson, Minn.) rank one and two in kills. Yost leads the team 119 kills (3.84/per set). Yost has posted double-digit kill totals in all but one match in 2014 and set a new career-high with 24 kills versus South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Saturday. Tronick, meanwhile, ranks second to Yost with 75 kills (2.42/per set). Tronick has notched at least 14 kills in three of the eight matches so far in 2014.

Setting up Yost and Tronick has been a trio of setters this season. The main setter for the Beavers is senior Courtney Volkmann (Wadena, Minn.). Volkmann started all four matches in the Keweenaw Classic and registered 157 assists (9.81/per set) in the four tilts. BSU’s senior setter currently ranks seventh on BSU’s all-time assist with 1,949 helpers in her career. In addtion to Volkmann, junior Ashley Kiecker (Hector, Minn.) and Jordyn Koehn (Mukawonago, Wis.) have also started games at setter for Bemidji State. Kiecker has started three matches and registered 79 assists in those three starts, while Koehn notched 47 in her lone start.

Defensively, Bemidji State has been led by juniors Kayla DeJong (DS, Jefferson, Wis.) and Courtney Fox (DS, Hutchinson, Minn.). DeJong leads BSU with 50 digs (3.33/per set) and 11 service aces, while Fox is second on the team with 31 digs (2.07/per set). On the block, Rachel Craig (MB, Sr., Wadena, Minn.) leads the way with 21 total blocks (1.40/per set). Last weekend Craig notched eight blocks versus South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, which tied for the fourth on BSU’s all-time single-match blocks list.