Huskies slay Dragons 3-0 to open weekend

Friday, October 11

St. Cloud, Minn.

6 p.m.

St. Cloud State

14-1,7-0NSIC

Minnesota State-Moorhead

7-8,5-2NSIC

MSU Moorhead

St. Cloud St.

Erin Navratil led the team with 13 kills against MSU-Moorhead.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

10/11/2019 8:15:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University volleyball team can officially check slaying the Dragons off its bucket list.

After already making plenty of history this 2019 season, the Huskies continued to do so Friday evening. At the exact midpoint of the year, St. Cloud State won its 14^th match of the season and sixth in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play thanks to its 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-22) sweep of Minnesota State-Moorhead, improving the team's overall record to 14-1 with a 6-1 against conference opponents.

The Huskies handily took care of business in the first and second set, winning by identical scores of 25-13, 25-13. Offensively, St. Cloud State put together an extremely balanced offensive attack, as Erin Navratil (Albany, Minn. / Albany) and Chloe Dousette (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) accounted for a combined 16 kills in the two sets while committing just one error between the two of them.

Strong serving also benefited the Huskies, as they jumped out to an impressive 7-1 lead in the opener, courtesy of Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake). While the sophomore is no stranger to success in front of the 10-foot line, she proved just as dominant beyond the end like, as she annihilated the Dragons with her serve, forcing them out of system and allowing St. Cloud State to score seven consecutive points.

Though MSU-Moorhead managed to stop the bleeding on Rachel's run, the visitors were never able to recover, as the Huskies ran away with the set, winning by a decisive score of 25-13. Navratil provided the set-clinching kill from the left side, finishing the set with a team-leading five kills and zero hitting errors.

It was much of the same in the second set, though the Dragons managed to hang with St. Cloud State longer than in the first. However, once Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) hit her spot in the serving rotation, it was same song, second verse for the Huskies, as they cruised to a 25-13 victory. Olstad's serving run helped St. Cloud State jump to a 9-5 lead over MSU-Moorhead, but it was Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) who really put the Dragons to bed. The sophomore right side recorded back-to-back-to-back aces to put the Huskies up 21-10 and all but clinched the 25-13 win.

Things were not rolling St. Cloud State's way in set number three, as the team got a taste of its own medicine, falling into a 5-1 deficit due to strong serving by MSU-Moorhead. Kills from Halle Hughes (Mankato, Minn. / Mankato West) and Navratil cut the lead to 5-3, but the Dragons continued to put the Huskies on edge, eventually taking a 12-5 lead midway through the set.

The deficit forced head coach Chad Braeglemann to make a change, opting to put in sophomore Allison Naughton (Des Moines, Iowa / Dowling Catholic) as a middle blocker for senior Marah Mulso (Marshall, Minn. / Marshall). The switch had its deserved effect, as Naughton came up with a big kill out of the middle and kick started a four-point run for St. Cloud State, cutting the lead to 12-9 before MSU-Moorhead won its next point.

The run kicked the Huskies offense and defense back in gear, as they won five of the next six points to take a 14-13 lead over the Dragons. MSU-Moorhead managed to hang with St. Cloud State and regained the lead at 20-19, but the offensive fire power of Rachel and strong serves from Krenz proved to be too much, as the Huskies took the third set 25-22 and the match 3-0.

Navratil and Rachel both recorded double-digit kills, with Navratil leading the way with a season-high 13 in the victory. The junior outside also recorded her highest individual hitting percentage of the season at .357 thanks to just three committed errors on 28 total attempts.

Rachel finished the match with 11 kills and a team-leading 15 digs, recording yet another double-double in her already impressive season. Piloting the Huskies offensive was again Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy), who finished the night with 45 assists and three service aces.

Krenz made quite a bit of history Friday evening, as she moved to second on the team's all-time digs list with 1886 in her career with St. Cloud State. Thanks to her 15 digs Friday evening, Krenz is now 41 away from surpassing Brianne Stamer as the program record holder in that category.

Olstad finished the night with 12 digs total, while Houle led the way with an impressive five aces.

With the win, the Huskies overall record improves to 14-1 and they have a 6-1 mark in NSIC play. St. Cloud State will return to the court on Saturday, October 12 when it hosts #8 Northern State University in a key conference match at 2 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall.