Volleyball Downed 3-1 By Sioux Falls on Saturday

Saturday, September 30

Sioux Falls, S.D.

2:00 P.M.

St. Cloud State

10-6, 3-4NSIC

Sioux Falls

9-3, 4-3NSIC

St. Cloud State

Sioux Falls

Nicole Miller

Photo by: Paul Middlestaedt

9/30/2017 5:08:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Sioux Falls, S.D. – The St. Cloud State volleyball team (10-6, 3-4 NSIC) fought hard after dropping the first two sets, but ended up losing 3-1 to Sioux Falls (9-3, 4-3 NSIC) on the road on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Stewart Center. The team lost the first two sets 25-22 and 25-21, took the third set 25-20 and fell in the fourth set 25-23.

Senior Nicole Miller led the team with her 12 kills and tied for the team lead with 17 digs. She also had six assists and a service ace. Senior Becca Gruber totaled 11 kills and hit .229 for the match. Junior Krista Kuglin totaled seven kills and two block assists. Senior Kayla Crane led the team with her 23 assists. Freshman Maddy Torve recorded 18 helpers and a service ace. Freshman Taylor Olstad totaled 12 digs. Sophomore Clara Krenz tied for the team lead with her 17 digs. The team recorded 53 kills, 51 assists, three service aces, 65 digs, six block while hitting .170 for the four games.

Sioux Falls had three players reach double figures in kills led by 19 kills from Bria Barfnecht. Barfnecht had an impressive match with 17 digs and a hitting percentage of .455. Makenna Rockeman totaled 12 kills and 10 digs plus two service aces. Lexi Scott picked up 13 kills, five digs, three service aces while hitting .375. Janelle Lam tied for the match high with 17 digs. Anna Peterson also reached double figures with 10 digs. Megan Hamstad totaled a match high 36 assists. The Cougars totaled 58 kills, 53 assists, five service aces, 70 digs, 10 blocks while hitting .224 for the four games.

The Huskies lost the first two sets, but then rallied in the third set to pull off the victory. Redshirt freshman Abol Barnaba led the team in the third set with four kills. SCSU jumped out to a nine point lead, 20-11, on a service ace from Torve. Sioux Falls then went on 9-3 run to get to within two points, 22-20. SCSU held strong though with Miller and Barnaba registering kills down the stretch.

In the fourth set, SCSU trailed by as much as four early, 14-10, before rallying and tying the match up at 20 on back-to-back kills from Torve and Barnaba. The set was tight the rest of the way with USF ultimately holding on for the 25-23 victory in the set and taking the match. Miller had five kills in the fourth set to led the squad.

"It was another tough weekend in the NSIC for us," head coach Chad Braegelmann explained. "Sioux Falls did a fantastic job attacking from the right side today and scoring points. I like the way we fought back in set three and set four was back and forth until the end. We just couldn't quite make enough plays to pull it out. I thought Becca Gruber did a nice job bouncing back today as well."

The St. Cloud State volleyball team keeps the road trip going early next week against Bemidji State on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m. before returning home next weekend to host Concordia-St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall and Minnesota State on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m.