St. Cloud State
4-2,0-0NSIC
Simon Fraser
5-1,0-0Great Northwest
Volleyball drops two at CWU/SPU Invitational
9/11/2021 10:48:00 PM | Volleyball
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State University volleyball team and head coach Chad Braegelmann knew the team's trip out west wasn't going to be easy. The Huskies were scheduled to play at least one ranked opponent in Simon Fraser and three scrappy teams from the west region. While St. Cloud State hoped to leave the state of Washington with four more wins, it wasn't in the cards. After splitting their matches on Friday, the Huskies fell to #24 Simon Fraser 3-0 (23-25, 21-25, 23-25) and Seattle Pacific (13-25, 21-25, 24-26) Saturday afternoon, closing the trip with an overall record of 5-3.
TOP-25 BATTLE
St. Cloud State's struggles continued, as the team suffered its second straight 3-0 loss at the hands of #24 Simon Fraser. The match was far closer, though, than the final score indicates, as the Huskies comebacks in the first and second set fell just short. Trailing 24-20 in the first, Maddy Torve's (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) served helped St. Cloud State win three straight points, closing the gap to 24-23 before Simon Fraser won the set 25-23. The team's comeback came up short in the second as well, as the Huskies fell 25-21 to fall into another must win situation in the third. Despite strong play from Linsey Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake), who accounted for 17 points St. Cloud State points in the match, the Huskies again fell 25-23 to drop the match 3-0.
LATE NIGHT ACTION
After dropping nine consecutive sets, St. Cloud State looked to rebound in its final match of the weekend against Seattle Pacific. Unfortunately, the Huskies struggled continued against the host Falcons, as they dropped the first set 25-13 before falling behind 2-0 in the match after losing the second 25-21. Still, St. Cloud State showed resilience in the third set, pushing Seattle Pacific point-for-point before falling by a final score of 26-24. Rachel was the lone Husky with double-digit kills, tallying 10 in the loss, while Torve closed the match with 24 assists.
TOP HUSKIES
- Senior outside Linsey Rachel's (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) hot start to the season continued against Western Oregon. The senior tallied yet another double-double, tallying a team-leading 16 kills and 14 digs in the four-match victory for a team-leading 16.0 points.
- Despite the loss, fifth year senior Maddy Torve (Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) continued to shine as St. Cloud State's setter, accounting for 38 of the team's 41 assists in the match.
- Junior libero Abigail Groeneweg (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) led the Huskies in kills over the weekend, tallying 51 total to average 3.92 digs/set at the CWU/SPU Invitational. Groeneweg also tallied a team-leading eight aces over the two-day stretch to average .62 a set.
- After Rachel, senior opposite Rachel Houle (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater Area) was St. Cloud State's top offensive weapon, hitting .218 with 27 kills on 78 attempts.
QUEST FOR 1000
- Rachel's quest for history continued in Washington, as she creeped ever close to the 1000 career kills and digs mark. In the Huskies loss to Simon Fraser, Rachel surpassed the 900 career kills mark and now has 911 all-time in her St. Cloud State career. She additionally has amassed 893 digs in three seasons with the Huskies.
- St. Cloud State lost three consecutive matches for the first time since the 2018 season. In mid-October, the Huskies went on a three-match losing skid in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play, dropping matches to nationally Northern State, Wayne State and MSU-Moorhead.
QUOTABLES
St. Cloud State Volleyball Head Coach Chad Braegelmann on the weekend:
"We really struggled today against two talented teams that were very hungry. Overall, we didn't serve or pass well this weekend, and we made way too many errors. It was a great environment to play in, as they had a couple hundred students there, and I liked the way we competed in almost every set. However, the NSIC schedule is unrelenting, so we need to play better from point one to 25."
UP NEXT
After two weekends away, the Huskies will finally return to St. Cloud, Minnesota for their home and conference opener next weekend. St. Cloud State will open the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) season against Augustana University at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 17. Fans are encouraged to show up and wear red, and the first 100 fans will receive a free volleyball schedule poster.
For all the latest on St. Cloud State Volleyball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
