Volleyball earns two sweeps at Northern Michigan Tourney

Friday, August 31

Marquette, Mich.

1 p.m. EST

St. Cloud State

2-1

Northwood

1-4

SCSU

The Huskies record improved to 3-1 after defeating Northwood and Lake Superior State Friday afternoon.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

8/31/2018 9:15:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MARQUETTE, MICH. – The St. Cloud State volleyball team could not have asked for a better start to its Michigan trip, as the team went 2-0 in its opening matches of Northern Michigan University's Wildcat Open with two sweeps. St. Cloud State opened the day with a dominant 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-17) win over Northwood University before beating Lake Superior State University in 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-14) fashion in its second match of the tournament.

The Huskies dominated in their opening match of the afternoon, quickly taking care of business in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-17) sweep of the Timberwolves. In fact, St. Cloud State outplayed Northwood in every statistical category but one, as the team outhit, out-dug, out-aced and out-assisted its opponent. In the opening set, the Huskies cruised to 25-13 victory thanks to serving runs from Micah Nier (Hatley, Wis. / Wittenberg-Birnamwood) and Erin Navatril (Albany, Minn. / Albany). The two went on four-point serving runs midway through the set to give St. Cloud State a 17-9 advantage over the Timberwolves before first year Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) closed out the set at 25-13 with an ace of her own.

The second set between the two teams was much tighter, but the Huskies managed to come out on top 25-21. Northwood and St. Cloud State traded the lead through the first 20 points of the set, with neither team leading by more than two points. It looked like the Huskies were finally going to breakaway with the game tied at 11-11 when they took a 13-11 lead, but the Timbewolves managed to close the gap and took a two-point lead of their own on two St. Cloud State attack errors.

Of course, the Huskies weren't down and out for the count, as they came roaring back to level the set at 17-17 with a kill from Nier and a block by Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) and Marah Mulso (Marshall, Minn. / Marshall). From there, the two teams traded points again until St. Cloud State took an impressive 24-20 lead thanks to Navratil, Mulso and Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake). All three recorded kills during the Huskies four-point run while Navratil tallied a service ace. However, it was senior Krista Kuglin (Minnetonka, Minn. / Minnetonka) who earned the game-winning kill to clinch the 25-21 win for her team.

Things did not get off to a great start for St. Cloud State, though, in the third and final set. In fact, the Huskies trailed from the get go, as the Timberwolves jumped out to a 5-2 lead before jumping ahead 11-7 midway through the set. However, the young St. Cloud State team showed calm and resiliency, eventually evening the match at 11-11 with a kill by Mulso. The Huskies then broke away seven points later, as Houle went on a seven-point serving run to give the Huskies a 22-14 lead. Although Northwood managed to score three points after the run, St. Cloud State closed out the match with a kill from Belle Erne (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine), clinching the 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 victory.

The second match of the day was just as exciting for the Huskies as they earned another 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-14) sweep, this time over the Lakers. Strong serving proved to be the highlight of the match, as St. Cloud State tallied seven aces over the course of three sets, including a career-high four by Torve and three from Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan). The Huskies defensive play was also outstanding in the second match of the day, as they tallied 53 total digs, led by Rachel's 17 and Clara Krenz' (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) 13.

Of course, the battle between the Huskies and Lakers was intense, especially in the first two sets. In fact, neither team was really able to pull away until the latter stages of the first two sets, and the two teams were knotted 15-15 and trading the lead in the first. However, three consecutive kills from Nier gave the Huskies a definitive 18-15 lead, which they would never relinquish en route to their 25-18 first set victory.

The same situation happened in the second set. Though St. Cloud State took an early 10-7 lead, Lake Superior State was able to cut the lead to two points and eventually tied the match at 15-15. However, that was the closest the Lakers would come to ever taking the lead, as the Huskies went on to score 10 of the next 14 points to win set number two 25-19 on an Olstad ace.

St. Cloud State dominated in the third and final set, as Abby Templin (Cold Spring, Minn. / ROCORI) kicked things off with a kill from the outside to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Then Torve served St. Cloud State to a 4-0 lead, as her killer float serve resulted in two aces and a miscue from by the Lakers offense.

Eventually, Lake Superior State did manage to score a point, but it was the closest the team would come to catching the Huskies lead. In fact, the Lakers never got within three of St. Cloud State's lead, allowing the Huskies to win the set by a final score of 25-14.

Rachel once again had a big day for St. Cloud State, as she led the team in kills in the opening match against Northwood with a career-high 14 before tallying a team-leading 17 digs in the second match against Lake Superior State. Templin was the team's top hitter against the Lakers as she tallied 13 kills and made just three errors for a .323 hitting percentage.

Torve led the team in assists as she tallied 31 in both matches. Krenz led the team with a season-high 18 digs in the opening match, while Rachel's 17 led the team in the second.

Thanks to the two victories, St. Cloud State is now 3-1 on the year. The Huskies will return to the court on Saturday for the second day of Northern Michigan's Wildcat Open. St. Cloud State will play Michigan Tech at 11 a.m. EST before concluding the tournament at 7 p.m. EST with a match against Northern Michigan.