Krenz, Rachel earn AVCA First Team All-Region honors

| AVCA All-Region List | D2CCA All-Region List |

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY – It's no secret the St. Cloud State University volleyball team took the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and nation by storm in 2019, qualifying for both the conference and NCAA tournament and earning the program's first top-25 ranking since the late 1990s. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Huskies continued to take the world by storm during the postseason awards season. After historic seasons, senior libero Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) and sophomore outside Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) earned First Team All-Region honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), the organization announced Wednesday morning.

Krenz and Rachel are the first Huskies to earn First Team All-Region honors since Andreanna Pieper did so back in 2008. The two have already earned plenty of historic honors in 2019, as both earned First Team All-Conference honors in November. Additionally, Krenz was named Second Team All-Central Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) on Wednesday, becoming the first player in program history to earn D2CCA All-Central Region honors.

Krenz and Rachel were both key players for St. Cloud State in 2019, leading the Huskies to their best overall (25-6) and NSIC (15-5) record since joining the conference back in 2008. Krenz, in particular, was a defensive force to be reckoned with, as she earned First Team All-Conference honors and was voted the NSIC's Libero of the Year earlier this season. A three-time NSIC Defensive Player of the Week, Krenz led the conference in overall digs and digs per set from the get go and only got better as the season progressed. At the conclusion of the regular season, Krenz led the NSIC in total digs (419) and digs/set (5.44) against conference opponents, helping St. Cloud State end the regular season as the top defensive team in the NSIC. Entering the 2019 NCAA Regional Tournament, Krenz has 650 digs to her name, becoming just the second libero in program history to record 650+ digs in a single season.

Krenz also secured her place as the top defensive player in school history, breaking Brianne Stamer's record for career digs in early October. With 2122 total digs in her career, Krenz is the first player in program history to eclipse the 2000 career digs mark and currently ranks second, third and sixth all-time in single-season digs and single-match digs. This season, she has recorded double-digit digs in every match for the Huskies and has recorded 20+ digs in 18 matches this season.

Rachel did not suffer a sophomore slump in her second season with the Huskies, as she earned First Team All-Region honors from the AVCA after being named the Central Region's Freshman of the Year one season ago. In fact, the sophomore outside was once again a huge part of St. Cloud State's success as she was an offensive forced to be reckoned with thanks to her 4.05 kills/set and 312 kills in conference play this year, ranking top-10 in the conference in both categories. While Rachel was the team's top offensive weapon, she might have been even better defensively for the Huskies. Rachel was the highest ranking non-libero in the conference in digs/set this season, racking up 301 digs in NSIC play for an impressive 3.91 digs/set average.

Rachel's overall numbers were even better, as she enters the NCAA Regional with a team-leading 455 kills in 31 matches for St. Cloud State. More impressively? Since the start of the season, Rachel has ranked top-20 in the nation in kills and kills/set and additionally ranked in the top-100 in digs and digs/set as a non-libero. In just her second season, Rachel racked up 473 digs to average 4.19 per set and currently ranks seventh all-time in program history in single-season digs. Additionally, Rachel's 455 kills ranks fourth all-time in program history while her 38 career double-doubles ranks fifth.

Krenz and Rachel will return to action on Thursday, December 5 when they and St. Cloud State face Northern State University in the opening round of the NCAA Regional. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Kearney, Nebraska.

Saint Cloud State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Clara Krenz

Linsey Rachel

Brianne Stamer

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