St. Cloud State
23-4,18-1NSIC
Wayne State
20-7,13-6NSIC
Volleyball secures NSIC title at Wayne State
11/12/2021 8:40:00 PM | Volleyball
#11 Huskies beat #15 Wayne State 3-1 to improve to 18-1 in NSIC play
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State University volleyball team is the No. 1 team in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
No ties. No sharing. No coin flips. No complicated math to add up point totals. The #11 Huskies will sit alone at the top of Division II's toughest volleyball conference. Thanks to a 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 17-25, 25-18) win over #15 Wayne State Friday evening, St. Cloud State won the NSIC Regular Season Championship outright with one match remaining on the schedule, as the team is guaranteed no fewer than two losses in conference play. Thanks to the win, the Huskies overall record now stands at 23-4 and they are 18-1 in NSIC play.
THIS SHIP IS OURS
Entering the match, St. Cloud State knew the road wasn't going to be easy. The Huskies would finish out the regular season on the road and would have to face #15 Wayne State and Augustana with a chance to clinch the NSIC title outright. In the beginning, it looked like a challenging task. St. Cloud State and Wayne State switched roles in the opening set, as both the Wildcats and Huskies could not be stopped offensively. While St. Cloud State hit .286 as a team through the first 28 points, Wayne State hit .435, resulting in an early 15-13 lead for the hosts. The Huskies, though, certainly weren't out for the count, as they rallied to tie the set 21-21 before taking a definitive lead at 24-23. While the Wildcats managed to hold off one set point, they simply weren't able to without the firepower of Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake). The senior regained a 25-24 advantage for St. Cloud State before Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Chrisitan Academy) sealed the 26-24 win with an ace.
With a 1-0 lead in the match, the Huskies again went into battle with Wayne State, this time coming away with a dominant 25-16 win in set number two. St. Cloud State's block in particular came to life in the second set, keeping the Wildcats' hitters on their toes and off of the stat sheet. Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa / Sergeant Bluff-Luton) was also unstoppable, tallying 10 kills in the first two sets while committing just one error.
The Huskies committed a bit of an oopsie in the third set, as Wayne State won 25-17 to force a fourth set. St. Cloud State was not about to play a fifth, though. The Huskies' block once again came to life, as the team tallied 16 total block assists in the match behind Allison Naughton's (Des Moines, Iowa / Dowling Catholic) career-high six block performance. In fact, it was Naughton along with Torve who sealed the victory for St. Cloud State, as the duo's combo block on Kelsei Cada secured the 25-18 fourth set win and the 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 17-25, 25-18) victory.
TOP HUSKIES
- Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa / Sergeant Bluff-Luton) was gold for the Huskies against the Wildcats, as she compiled a match-high 19 kills while hitting .444 from the outside pin. Her nine digs was one shy of a double-double.
- Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) and Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) both tallied double-dobules for St. Cloud State Friday evening. Rachel recorded 15 kills and 10 digs, while Torve recorded 48 assists and added 10 digs.
- Allison Naughton (Des Moines, Iowa / Dowling Catholic) was queen of the net Friday evening, as she led the team with a career-high six block assists against the Wildcats.
MISS. 4000!
Torve continues to make history in her final season with the Huskies. After being named All-Conference on Thursday and the inaugural NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year Friday morning, Torve carded her 4000th career assist in a St. Cloud State uniform against Wayne State. The fifth-year senior is just the third player in program history to reach the milestone and the first to do so in Rachael Olson reached the mark in 2000.
FIRST YEAR FOR THE BOOKS
Foley was on record watch for the last three weeks of the regular season,, as she inched closer and closer to breaking Rachel's record for first year kills. Thanks to her 19 kill performance, she did just that Friday evening. With her 14th kill of the match, Foley surpassed Rachel's record of 352 kills and is credited for 358 in her first year as a Husky.
UP NEXT
St. Cloud State will conclude the regular season on Saturday, as the team faces Augustana at 5:00 p.m. CT to close out 2021.
For all the latest on St. Cloud State Volleyball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
