Volleyball falls in NSIC Championship 3-0 to Concordia-St. Paul

Sunday, November 24

Sioux Falls, S.D.

3 p.m.

St. Cloud State

25-6,15-5NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

25-7,16-4NSIC

St. Cloud St.

Concordia-St. Paul

St. Cloud State closed the NSIC Tournament with a 25-6, the most wins for the program since 2004.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

Volleyball falls in NSIC Championship 3-0 to Concordia-St. Paul

11/24/2019 4:50:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – It had been a nearly perfect week for the St. Cloud State University volleyball team. In their first ever appearance in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Volleyball Tournament, the Huskies battled their way to the championship match, earning the right to face Division II powerhouse Concordia University-St. Paul for the conference's automatic big for the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately, a conference championship wasn't in the cards for St. Cloud State. Despite a hard fought battle, the Huskies fell 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 21-25) to the Golden Bears in the championship match of the NSIC tournament.

Concordia-St. Paul's championship experience played dividends against St. Cloud State, as the Golden Bears were firing on all cylinders to open the match. In fact, the home team jumped ahead 8-3 early in the first set, forcing Huskies head coach Chad Braegelmann to call and early time out in the hopes of stopping the run. It proved to be a wise move for St. Coud State, as the team responded by winning the first set out of the time out, cutting the lead to 8-4 before an ace by Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) pulled the Huskies within three at 9-6.

Serve receive woes allowed Concordia-St. Paul to jump ahead 13-6 on a run by defensive specialist Makenna Berger. Still, St. Cloud State continued to battle, as the team's offense slowly but surely started to get comfortable in the later stages of the set. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit, as the Golden Bears won the opening set by a final score of 25-17.

Like in the fourth set against Upper Iowa, the Huskies gained some momentum at the end of the first set, as they managed to crawl their way back in the set and battle off a handful of set points. That momentum carried over to set two, as St. Cloud State took an early 3-1 lead over Concordia-St. Paul and looked to extend it with Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) back at the service line.

It wasn't just the Huskies serving that was rolling in set two, as aces by Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) and Krenz allowed St. Cloud State to extend its lead to 17-13. Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) also hit her stride in set two, as she recorded six kills in that set alone to jump start the Huskies struggling offense.

St. Cloud State's serve receive struggles continued and ultimately proved costly in the second set. Despite holding a late 20-16 lead, the Golden Bears rallied to tie the set at 20 before taking a 23-20 lead of their own. The Huskies, though, were never down for the count, as Olstad and Phebie Rossi (Rapid City, S.D. / Stevens) led the team on a three-point rally to tie the set at 23-23.

In the final points, though, St. Cloud State had no answer for NSIC Freshman of the Year Jasmin Mulvihill, as her back-to-back kills allowed Concordia-St. Paul to win the second set 25-23. The win forced St. Cloud State to either win the third or suffer just its third straight set loss of the 2019 season. The Huskies hung with the Golden Bears point for point early in the third, but a serving run by Mulvihill resulted in an early 6-3 lead St. Cloud State could never recover from. Though they tried valiantly, going so far as to fight off three match points at the end of the set, the Huskies were unable to rally, as they fell to the Golden Bears in the NSIC Championship 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 21-25).

Both Rachel and Rossi were named to the All-Tournament Team after outstanding weekends for St. Cloud State, in which they were key players both offensively and defensively for the Huskies. In the match against the Golden Bears, Rachel led the team in kills, ending the match with a team-leading 14. Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) led the way with 32 assists, while Krenz finished the match with a team-leading 15 digs.

With the loss, St. Cloud State's overall record stands at 25-6, its best overall record and most wins since the 2004 season. The Huskies fate now stands in the hands of the NCAA regional committee, as they wait to see if they are one of five teams selected for the NCAA Regional.

Fans can join the St. Cloud State team and coaching staff for a viewing part of the NCAA Selection Show at 6 p.m. on Monday, November at the Blue Line Sports Bar and Grill South location in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The selection show is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com with the top-8 seed in the tournament announced throughout the day. Should the Huskies qualify for the NCAA Tournament, they will participate in the regional round December 6-7 in a yet to be determined location.