Volleyball opens busy week at Minnesota-Crookston

CROOKSTON, MINN. – There's no rest for the weary, the wicked or nationally ranked volleyball teams apparently. After yet another impressive weekend, the St. Cloud State University volleyball team is back in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) action as it takes on the University of Minnesota-Crookston at 6 p.m. in Crookston, Minnesota.

It's a quick turnaround for the Huskies, who are coming off a 1-1 weekend against conference foes. In Friday's opener, St. Cloud State swept MSU-Moorhead in dominating fashion, winning the match 3-0 thanks to scores of 25-13, 25-13 and 25-22. On Saturday, the team suffered a gut-wrenching loss to #8 Northern State, pushing the Wolves to five sets before falling 25-23, 16-25, 30-28, 21-25 9-15.

Live stats and video will be available for Tuesday's night match, and score updates will be made on the Huskies official Twitter page (@SCSUhuskies_vb).

Here are the five things to know before Tuesday's match against the Golden Eagles:

8 – Despite its 1-1 weekend, St. Cloud State continued its upward ascension in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 poll. The Huskies came in at #8 in this week's poll, the highest ranking the team has received in 23 years. It's also the first time St. Cloud State has cracked the top-10, meaning nearly half the team wasn't born the last time the Huskies were ranked that high.

1-3 – St. Cloud State has already "seen" Minnesota-Crookston this season, though the teams have yet to play each other. The Golden Eagles participated in the BW Kelly Inn Huskies Volleyball Classic back in September, as they posted a 1-3 record with a win over South Dakota Mines. That lone win came in one of the best matches of the tournament, as Minnesota-Crookston rallied down 2-1 to win the match 3-2. Porsha Porath was a force to be reckoned with for the Golden Eagles, as she tallied a match-leading 23 kills in the victory with 14 digs and three block assists.

13 – The team isn't the only group moving up rankings this week. Thanks to two outstanding performances last weekend, senior libero Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) moved to second all-time in career digs and is just 13 away from surpassing Brianne Stamer as the program's recordholder in that category. So far this season, Krenz has never recorded less than 15 digs in a match and is currently averaging an NSIC leading 6.12 digs/set.

2221 – Junior setter Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) has made herself right at home in the Huskies 5-1 offense, becoming just the seventh setter in program history to record over 2000 assists. Thanks to her 704 assists this season, Torve now ranks eighth all-time in career assists with 2221 and is well on her way to recording the first 1000+ assist season of her career at St. Cloud State. Currently, Torve ranks second in the conference in overall assists/set (12.14) and third in assists/set vs. NSIC opponents (11.47).

4.47 – Torve's favorite target? None other than sophomore outside Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake). The reigning NSIC Freshman of the Year is even better than she was in 2018, as she leads the conference in kills (143) and kills/set (4.47) against NSIC opponents and recorded 20+ kills against four conference opponents this season. What's more Rachel is the top non-libero in both digs (123) and digs/set average (3.84), showing she's just as much of a threat defensively as she is offensively.

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Players Mentioned

Clara Krenz

Linsey Rachel

Brianne Stamer

Maddy Torve

Saint Cloud State University Athletics