Volleyball opens homestead with Minnesota-Crookston

Tuesday, November 5

St. Cloud, Minn.

6 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Minnesota Crookston

Phebie Rossi was unstoppable at the net last week, with four block assists alone against Minnesota-Duluth.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

11/4/2019 10:15:00 AM | Volleyball

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – Things are about to get busy for the St. Cloud State Universtiy volleyball. With just two weeks remaining in the 2019 regular season, the Huskies are set to play five Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matches over the course of 14 days, including three at home this week.

St. Cloud State will open its marathon of a week on Tuesday, when it hosts the University of Minnesota-Crookston at 6 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall. It will be the second meeting between the Huskies and Golden Eagles this season and will hopefully result in another victory for St. Cloud State. On October 15, St. Cloud State went up and swept Minnesota-Crookston on its own court, winning by resounding scores of 25-18, 25-5 and 25-20.

Live stats and video will be available for fans who can't watch the match in person, and score updates will be made to the team's official Twitter page (@SCSUhuskies_vb).

Here are the five things to know before first serve on Tuesday:

3 – This is the first of three matches the Huskies will play at home this week, the final three home matches of the 2019 regular season. After hosting Minnesota-Crookston on Tuesday, St. Cloud State will host Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul in two key matches that could improve its chances of qualifying for the NSIC Tournament.

14 – Plenty of history was made the last time the Huskies squared off against the Golden Eagles. Over the course of three sets, St. Cloud State recorded 14 aces as a team, which ranks seventh all-time in program history for single-match aces. Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) and Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) combined for eight of the Huskies 14 aces in the match with four apiece.

2052 – Senior libero Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) became the Huskies all-time leading "digger" in their win over the Golden Eagles, as she surpassed Brianne Stammer with 1930 digs in her career. In less than a month, Krenz has added even more to her volleyball legacy, becoming the first player in program history to record over 2000 digs in a single career. Against Minnesota-Duluth on Thursday, Krenz eclipsed the 2000 dig milestone and now has 2052 in her career with St. Cloud State.

4 – Speaking of the Bulldogs, the Huskies are currently riding a four-match win streak thanks to their 3-1 win over #3 Minnesota-Duluth last Thursday. Though the Bulldogs recorded more total kills than St. Cloud State (59 to 49), the Huskies defense was impeccably perfect, as they held Minnesota-Duluth to a season-low .124 hitting percentage. More impressive? St. Cloud State's stingy defense forced the Bulldogs to commit 36 hitting errors and came up with 13 blocks.

14 – Krenz isn't the only Husky showing off her defense prowess in NSIC play this season. In fact, St. Cloud State has two players ranked in the top-20 in digs and digs/set versus NSIC opponents. Krenz is obvious, but sophomore outside hitter Rachel currently ranks 14th with a 3.84 digs/set average in conference matches this season. She is the highest ranking non-libero in the conference and ranks ahead of two defensive specialists.