Volleyball prevails for two wins in Utah

Friday, September 6

St. George, Utah

1 p.m. MTN

St. Cloud State

2-0

Northwest Nazarene

0-2

St. Cloud State

Northwest Nazarene

Linsey Rachel led the way with a season high 15 kills in the Huskies thrilling win over Colorado Christian.

9/6/2019 11:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ST. GEORGE, UTAH – They say the harder the obstacle, the sweeter the victory.

The St. Cloud State University volleyball team certainly learned that Friday night.

The Huskies earned two more sweeps on the second day of the Desert Garden Inn Classic, but they had to fight tooth and nail for both of them. St. Cloud State won its first match of the day in dominating fashion, defeating Northwest Nazarene University in straight sets 25-15, 25-21 and 25-15 before a set one comeback against Colorado Christian University kept the team's set win streak alive as it took down the Cougars 3-0 (31-29, 25-22, 25-15).

It was all Huskies early and often in the opener against Northwest Nazarene, as they cruised to an easy 25-15 win in set number one. St. Cloud State's offense was firing on all cylinders, as junior setter Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) guided the Huskies to a .244 hitting percentage as a team in the first set. Marah Mulso (Marshall, Minn. / Marshall) led the way with four kills in the opener with fellow middle Halle Hughes (Mankato, Minn. / Mankato West) right behind her with three.

St. Cloud State's well-balanced offensive attack continued in the second, as the team took the set by a final score of 25-21. Again, Torve guided the Huskies to a match-high 20 kills as a team in the second set and an impressive .320 hitting percentage. However, it wasn't just the team's offense, that excelled against the Falcons. The Huskies defense was also superb, racking up 71 digs over the course of three sets and six blocks, season-highs in both categories.

The third set is where everything came together for St. Cloud State, as the team breezed its way to a 25-15 win to take the match 3-0. In the third and final set, the Huskies hit .333 as a team with 16 kills and just three errors on 39 attempts, while again dominating in every facet of the game.

Mulso was the top hitter for St. Cloud State in the opener, as she recorded a season-high 11 kills and committed just one hitting error for a hitting percentage of .455. Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) was not far behind, as she recorded yet another double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs, while junior opposite Bekah Miller (Prescott, Wis. / Prescott) tallied eight kills during the match.

Clara Krenz (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) was again the Huskies top defensive player, as she tallied 27 digs with two of St. Cloud State's nine aces in the match. Torve closed the match with another 40+ assists performance, as she tallied 42 in the second match of the season.

The Huskies winning ways continued in their second match of the day, as earned yet another 3-0 (31-29, 25-22, 25-15) sweep, this time over Colorado Christian. The Cougars gave St. Cloud State all it could handle, especially in the opening set of the match. In fact, Colorado Christian led for the majority of the set, as it took advantage of some early Huskies errors and held an early 13-7 lead over St. Cloud State.

The Huskies were able to cut the deficit to 13-10 thanks to a kill from Rachel and a block from Phebie Rossi (Rapids, S.D. / Stevens) and Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater). The team still had its work cutout, though, as the Cougars went on another 4-0 scoring run, allowing them to hold a 19-12 run over St. Cloud State.

It would have been easy for the Huskies to tuck their tale, run and reset for the second set, but they persevered and slowly, but surely, whittled away at the Colorado Christian lead. A serving run from Houle cut the Cougar lead to 20-15 before Rachel and Mulso managed to get St. Cloud State within two at 22-20. Still, it seemed like a comeback just wasn't in the cards for the Huskies in the opening set. Colorado Christian managed to stop the bleeding with a kill by Cali Bahnsen and took a 24-22 lead with one of its best servers at the line.

St. Cloud State did the improbable: the team fought off two set-points and evened things at 24-24 a piece. Still, the Huskies would fight off set point four more times before finally having their first opportunity to win the set. After a Taylor Olstad (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) service error, St. Cloud State found itself down 28-27 and fighting off another match point. A kill from Rachel tied it at 28-28 and Rossi delivered perhaps the biggest kill of her young career to put the team ahead 29-28.

Though the Huskies could not capitalize on their first set point opportunity, they managed to on their very next try, as Houle delivered the kill to clinch the 31-29 victory for St. Cloud State.

From that point on, it was all Huskies all the time, as they took set two 25-22 and set three in dominant fashion 25-15. Rachel nded the game as the leading offensive player, as she recorded 15 kills and committed just four errors for a season-high hitting percentage of .393. Rossi tallied a career-high 12 kills and added five block assists in the first official start of her St. Cloud State career, while Houle ended the match with eight kills.

Torve and Krenz posted nearly identical numbers to the opener against Northwest Nazarene, as the junior setter tallied 42 assists while Krenz once again led the team with 27 digs. Torve also added seven digs, while Rachel tallied six.

With the two victories, the Huskies overall record improves to 3-0. More impressively, St. Cloud State has not lost a set since October 27, 2018 when the team lost in straight sets to nationally ranked Northern State.

The Huskies will look to extend their set win-streak on Saturday, when they face Simon Fraser University at 9 a.m. MTN in St. George, Utah.