ST. JAMES — It took 49 hours to capture the Big South Conference girls tennis championship, but Blue Earth Area coach Konny Wolff’s Bucs finally did it.

Class A No. 6-ranked Blue Earth Area returned to St. James Thursday after its original league championship dual meet was suspended Tuesday due to lightning and rain, and dethroned Class A No. 7-ranked St. James Area by a 6-1 decision.

The victory also produced a bonus prize for the Bucs in the form of the No. 1 seed for the Section 3A Team Meet, which begins at either 4 or 4:30 p.m. Monday at the top four seeds’ home courts. After the release of Wednesday’s seeding process via email, Blue Earth Area and St. James Area were tied for the top playoff spot, with the first tiebreaking criteria being head-to-head competition.

“After finding out the No. 1 seed in the section was up for grabs, in addition to the conference championship, it was pretty stressful on the trip here,” said Wolff, who guided the Bucs to the first-ever BSC girls tennis crown in 2017 before the Saints downed her lineup by a 5-2 decision in the 2018 finale. “It’s tough stopping and then restarting a meet of this magnitude with a day off in between, but we regained our focus and pulled it out.”

Blue Earth Area (17-1) opens its sectional team quarterfinal against No. 8-seeded River Valley (Springfield and Sleepy Eye combined) Monday at Hal Schroeder Courts in Blue Earth, while No. 2-seeded St. James Area plays host to No. 7-seeded Pipestone.

No. 3-seeded Fairmont plays host to No. 6-seeded Maple River in a 4:30 p.m. Monday quarterfinal, while No. 4-seeded Luverne entertains No. 5-seeded United South Central to round out the Section 3A team bracket.

“We got off to a slow start in the first game of the third set at all three doubles today, but were able to reverse the momentum in our direction after that,” said Wolff.

With the doubles matches hanging in the balance after all three were suspended at one set apiece, all four singles matches ended in the second set Thursday identical to how they began after Tuesday’s opening sets were completed.

Trailing 1-0 on the heels of Saints’ No. 2 singles netter Jaelyn Haler’s win, Arika Howard answered for the Bucs at third singles to even the team score. Arika Howard, who won her opening set 6-1 Tuesday, registered a key service break Thursday to reverse a 4-3 second-set deficit into a 5-4 lead. Howard closed out her win over Luci Kulseth with a 7-5 second-set decision.

Blue Earth Area then rallied to sweep all three doubles matches by netting the decisive third sets to clinch the conference crown.

Kylie Rosenau and Addison Armstrong earned a pivotal service break in Game 5 of their No. 3 doubles’ third set to pace an eventual 6-2 victory for the Bucs. The Saints’ Alexia Whitney and Sofia Solorzano won Tuesday’s opening set 6-2 before Rosenau and Armstrong claimed the second set 6-0.

Cali Beyer and Lyndsey Borris inched BEA closer to the team triumph by assembling a late third-set comeback to defeat Noel Westcott and Sailor Mohlenbrock, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

Beyer and Borris trailed in Thursday’s third segment from 2-1 to 5-4 before amping up their games to notch a critical service break in Game 11 at No. 2 doubles. Beyer hammered back-to-back winners near the net and Borris delivered steady groundstrokes to pace the 7-5 third-set win and 3-1 team lead.

Despite a late comeback in the third set by St. James Area’s Sam Tetzloff and Gabby Trapero at 5-4, BEA’s McKenna Dutton and Britt Howard produced the meet-winning point at first doubles.

Dutton and Howard won Tuesday’s first set 6-1 before falling to Tetzloff and Trapero in the second set, 6-4. Dutton’s serving and frontline play triggered a break and 4-1 third-set lead Thursday before she and Howard eked out a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker for the fourth team point.

Te’a Armstrong, who won Tuesday’s first No. 1 singles set by a 7-5 margin, rallied from a 2-0 second-set deficit to the Saints’ Ellie Becker on Thursday. Becker and Armstrong held serve to 4-3 in the Saint junior’s favor before the Buc junior broke in Game 8 for a 5-4 edge en route to the 6-4 win.

Marissa Benz capped the Bucs’ team win by pocketing back-to-back 6-4 set decisions over Mya Hanson at fourth singles. Benz trailed 4-3 in Thursday’s second set before reeling off three straight game wins.

BEA 6, St. James Area 1

Singles: Te’a Armstrong (BEA) def. Ellie Becker, 7-5, 6-4. Jaelyn Haler (SJA) def. Macie Stevermer, 6-4, 6-2. Arika Howard (BEA) def. Luci Kulseth, 6-1, 7-5. Marissa Benz (BEA) def. Mya Hanson, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles: McKenna Dutton-Britt Howard (BEA) def. Sam Tetzloff-Gabby Trapero, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5). Cali Beyer-Lyndsey Borris (BEA) def. Noel Westcott-Sailor Mohlenbrock, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Kylie Rosenau-Addison Armstrong (BEA) def. Alexia Whitney-Sofia Solorzano, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.