Volleyball hosts NSU, MSUM in busy weekend

Friday, September 21

St. Cloud, Minn.

6 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Northern State

Micah Nier cuts the block in St. Cloud State's 3-0 sweep of Minnesota-Duluth last week.

Photo by: Tom Nelson

9/20/2018 3:00:00 PM | Volleyball

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – To say the St. Cloud State University volleyball team has been busy may be a bit of an understatement. The Huskies have had quite the fall, as indicated by their 9-2 overall record and 5-0 mark Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play. More impressively, St. Cloud State has made quite a bit of history this fall. The team is off to its best start, both overall and in conference play, since 1998 and reached several major milestones with its three wins last week.

However, the Huskies will certainly have their hands full this weekend if they want to remain undefeated in NSIC play. Coming to Halenbeck Hall at 6 p.m. on Friday is none other than the No. 1 team in the nation, Northern State University, and Minnesota State-Moorhead is sojourning down for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday. It's also fitting that, after such a historic start to the season, St. Cloud State will celebrate 50 years of women's athletics over the weekend, highlighted by a Saturday brunch with keynote speaker Kathy DeBoer.

Fans who cannot watch the matches live and in person can follow online via live stats, video and a live broadcast with KVSC. Score updates can also be found on the Huskies official Twitter page (@scsuhuskies_vb).

Here are the five things to know before the Huskies big weekend:

50 - St. Cloud State's athletic department will celebrate 50 years of women's athletics this weekend and throughout the 2018-19 academic year. The Huskies first intercollegiate teams competed during the 1968-69 season, including St. Cloud State's first volleyball and softball teams. In fact, the Huskies competed in their first volleyball match on October 25, 1969 and recorded a 15-12, 5-15, 15-10 win over Winona State.

5 – Since losing to Northern Michigan on September 1, St. Cloud State has won five consecutive matches and was on a nine-set win-streak before dropping a set to the Beavers last week. That is the third longest streak in the NSIC this season and trails only Concordia-St. Paul's eight-match win streak and Northern State, which has won 13 consecutive matches without dropping a set. Those two teams ranked No. 1 and 2 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll.

.330 – First year outside Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) earned the first NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honor of her career on Monday after an outstanding three matches September 10-15. Rachel compiled a .330 hitting percentage with 48 kills and just 13 errors on 106 attempts, which led all active hitters in the conference over the weekend. She led the team in kills in all three matches, including St. Cloud State's 3-0 sweep of No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth, and tallied career-highs in both kills (19 vs. Minot State) and digs (20 vs. Mary) over the weekend. Currently, Rachel ranks sixth in the NSIC In kills/set (3.77) and twelfth in kills (147).

3 – In order to win their sixth consecutive match, St. Cloud State is going to have to stop Northern State's high-powered offense, captained by redshirt-junior setter Ashley Rozell. Rozell earned her third NSIC Setter of the Week honor on Monday after guiding the Wolves to three conference victories over Minnesota-State Moorhead, Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston. In those three matches, Northern State hit .342 as a team, with Rozell tallying 123 assists for an average of 13.67 per set.

4.91 – The Huskies will also have their hands full with Minnesota-Moorhead, a team that enters the weekend with a 8-4 overall record and a 4-1 mark in NSIC play. The Dragons lone loss was at the hands of then No. 2 Northern State before they earned two wins over Minnesota-Crookston (3-1) and Bemidji Sate (3-2). Senior libero Monica Vega currently ranks second in the conference in digs/set, as she's averaged 4.91 through Minnesota-Moorhead's first 12 matches.

Bonus number:

0 – St. Cloud State will look to keep its perfect record against to-25 ranked opponents this weekend when it hosts No. 1 Northern State at 6 p.m. Friday evening in Halenbeck Hall. The team has had quite a bit of luck with ranked opponents this season, as it defeated No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth in straight sets last Tuesday. It was the team's first win over the Bulldogs since 1995 and the Huskies first win over a top-10 ranked opponent since that same season. St. Cloud State