Anne Beckemeyer’s Record Tying Night Improves the Cougars Winning Streak

By Dorian Alerte | Published by October 26, 2021

CAMDEN- On a night that was supposed to be all about celebration for the seniors of Rutgers- Camden’s women’s volleyball team, the women’s volleyball team from Kean University was able to walk away with a three-set to one, victory.

The now 12-9 Kean Cougars extended their winning streak to seven against the 14-8 Rutgers- Camden Scarlet Raptors behind freshman middle hitter Anne Beckemeyer’s record-tying night.

Beckemeyer tied the single-game blocks record, posting 12 of the team’s 17 blocks. Her 12 block performance was accompanied by 10 kills of her own, totaling 18.5 points- the second-highest total of her college career.

“We’ve been working a lot with blocks in practice,” Beckemeyer said. “Making sure we’re closed all the time, we’re going up together and the pins are doing a really good job. I think we were really in sync, not just in blocks, in everything.”

Beckemeyer’s double-double performance was accompanied by 39.5 combined points from her teammates- outside hitters Ashley Smith and Taylor Micheaux, and middle hitters Kayla Thornton. The four teammates had 58 of the cougar’s 74 total points scored. Defensive specialists Sian Seeger and Amanda Delio were also major contributors on the defensive end, tallying 23 total digs.

Kean won the first set 25-19, leading the whole way through. Micheaux ended the set with a kill, assisted by sophomore setter Kylie Brua.

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“I was just trying to finish the set,” Micheaux said. “I don’t know, there’s something about the last point of the game, where the ball just hangs in the air; I like to kill it.”

Rutgers-Camden did not allow the Cougars to win the second set, securing the victory 25-21. The set was a back-and-forth battle between the teams until key kills from the Scarlet Raptors put them on a 6-0 run, which saw them lead 17-14. They were able to fight off a late 5-0 surge by the Cougars and ended the set with a 5-0 run of their own.

Heading into the third set of play, the team understood the mistakes that they had made in the second set and felt that they had an opportunity to win the third set by playing their game.

“They went on a lot of runs,” Brua said. “We had to find a way to change something up, stop them, and put the pressure back on them to make a mistake.”

The third set began similar to the second set, with neither team pulling away from the other. With Rutgers- Camden up in the set 6-4, Brua set up her teammates, Micheaux and Thornton, to put the team on a 6-1 run to bring the score in the set to 9-7.

“It felt like pure euphoria,” Thornton said. “It felt so good. That was probably one of my top five volleyball moments at Kean for me.”

The Cougars would not surrender the lead from that point on, taking the set in a 25-18 victory.

The fourth set saw Kean take the lead early after a 2-2 start. After the scarlet hawks went on a run in the middle of the set, bringing the score to 9-8, Kean dominated the rest of the way through the set, going on a 16-7 run, featuring four blocks from Beckemeyer to take the final set 25-15.

“Every time I go into the court, especially if we’re down, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to try to change the pace of the game,’” Beckemeyer said. “I’m going to try to bring something to the table that they’re not expecting.”

With this win, the Cougars have officially clinched a top-four finish in the NJAC, qualifying for the NJAC tournament. 

“We’re expecting to win,” Thornton said. “I think we can win… I think that energy will carry us into the second round, and hopefully the final.”

The women’s volleyball team will look to finish their final five matches of the season, beginning with a home tri-match on Saturday, October 23 against Drew University and Arcadia University, before the NJAC tournament.

“We’ve trained as much as we can,” Micheaux said. “I just want to see us grow mentally. I want to see us keep our heads up and talk more than ever. I want to show you all our bond on the court.”

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