Volleyball makes dramatic comeback, takes down #6 Concordia-St. Paul

Saturday, November 9

St. Cloud, Minn.

2:00 p.m.

St. Cloud State

21-5,13-5NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

20-6,14-4NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

St. Cloud St.

The Huskies celebrate their dramatic win over Concordia-St. Paul Saturday afternoon.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

Volleyball makes dramatic comeback, takes down #6 Concordia-St. Paul

11/9/2019 9:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – There's a first time for everything, even the St. Cloud State University volleyball team.

As hard as it may be to believe, the Huskies achieved another first Saturday afternoon in what was the team's final home match in of the 2019 season. And it might be the sweetest. For the first time in the NCAA era, St. Cloud State took down Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) foe Concordia-St. Paul 3-2 (22-25, 10-25, 25-22, 25-22, 18-16), using a furious third-set rally to complete its glorious comeback.

The first set between the Huskies and Golden Bears lived up to expectations, as St. Cloud State hung with No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul throughout the opener. The Huskies even led the Golden Bears 12-8 thanks to a kill and ace from sophomore outside Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake). However, serve receive woes allowed Concordia-St. Paul to even things up at 12-12 and eventually take the 13-12 lead.

St. Cloud State wasted no time tying the set at 13-13 and jumping ahead 15-14, but serve of Golden Bear libero Tori Hanson proved to be too much for the Huskies, as her seven point serving run gave Concordia-St. Paul a 21-15 advantage. St. Cloud State battled back and fought off two set points before succumbing to the Golden Bears 25-22.

The second set was one that Husky fans would like to forget, as Concordia-St. Paul demonstrated just how it earned the No. 6 ranking in the nation. The Golden Bears recorded 17 kills and committed just one error during the set, led by first year right side Jasmine Mulvihill, who had 17 kills after the opening two sets. St. Cloud State's struggles on serve receive continued, as Concordia-St. Paul took the second set 25-10 for a 2-0 lead in the set.

It looked like the Huskies were destined for their second consecutive loss, as the Golden Bears roared to an early 12-3 lead to open the third. Then, one single play happened that changed everything for St. Cloud State. During a long rally, junior defensive specialist Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) made a huge save on defense, setting up Rachel for a huge kill on the outside to cut the lead to 12-5. Olstad then produced a near perfect serve, as Hanson's overpass fell right into the hands of Rachel, who slammed it down for the kill to cut Concordia-St. Paul's lead in half.

Though the Golden Bears won the next point, there was a shift of momentum in Halenbeck Hall. With Olstad's save and Rachel's back-to-back kills, the mood shifted amongst the St. Cloud State team, as the Huskies came roaring back from nine points down to force the fourth set with a 25-22 win in the third.

Again, it looked like St. Cloud State was destined for a loss, as the team once again fell behind Concordia-St. Paul early in the fourth. This time, it was only a five point deficit, as the Golden Bears jumped out to an 8-3 lead on strong serves from Makenna Berger. The Huskies didn't panic, and again managed to cut the lead to three before more strong serving by Concordia-St. Paul allowed the visitors to take a 17-10 lead late in the set.

Then, it happened again. This time, it was first year outside Abigail Groeneweg (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) that provided a much needed jolt from the bench. As a serving specialist, Groenweg forced the Golden Bears red hot offense out of system, as they committed four straight attack errors and allowed the Huskies to creep their way back into the match and cut the lead to 17-15.

Concordia-St. Paul won the ensuring point, but the spark was lit for St. Cloud State. In fact, the Huskies would take six of the next eight points from the Golden Bears, allowing them to hold a slim 21-20 advantage over the visitors. After back-to-back serving errors left things knotted at 22-22, St. Cloud State closed out the set with kills by Rachel and Abby Templin (Cold Spring, Minn. / Oakdale) to win 25-22 and force the decisive fifth set.

Tensions were high in Halenbeck Hall as the two teams took the court for the fifth, as many fans still remembered Friday's disappointing five-set outcome against Minnesota State. However, it looked like things had finally turned in the Huskies favor, as they won four of the opening five points to hold a 4-1 lead over the Golden Bears thanks to strong serving from Rachel and some outstanding defensive play by Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul). It wasn't enough to hold off Concordia-St. Paul, as libero Tori Hansen went on an eight point serving run to put Concordia-St. Paul ahead 9-5 midway through the set.

The seniors then put the team on their shoulders, as Marah Mulso (Marshall, Minn. / Marshall) recorded three straight kills to cut the Golden Bears lead to 10-7. From there, the Huskies just let Concordia-St. Paul make its own errors, as a service error and a bad set pulled them within one before an ace by Rachel tied the set at 10-10.

Things were tense from that point on. For every point St. Cloud State scored, the Golden Bears seemed to have an answer, resulting in a 15-15 and 16-16 tie. That was when the Huskies resilience finally paid off, as they watched a Sara Macek attack go wide before Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) sealed the match with a kill at 18-16 and helped her team beat the NCAA perennial power for the first time in the NCAA era.

Rachel was unstoppable for the Huskies Saturday afternoon, as she tallied a team-leading 16 kills and tallied 17 digs for yet another double-double on the weekend. Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) finished the match with 41 assists and seven kills of her own, while Krenz led the way with a team-leading 20 digs for St. Cloud State.

With the victory, the Huskies overall record improves to 21-5 and they are now 13-5 in NSIC play. St. Cloud State will close out the regular season on the road next week as the team travels to take on Winona State University and Upper Iowa University.