Outsides thrive as No. 7 Huskies advance to Round of 32

Friday, November 18

Wayne, Neb.

5:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

27-5,15-5NSIC

Northwest Missouri State

24-7,17-3Mid-America Intercollegiate

St. Cloud St.

Northwest Mo. St.

Photo by: Thomas Breach

11/18/2022 9:55:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Rachel and Foley lead St. Cloud State to four-set Region Quarterfinal win over No. 12 NWMSU

WAYNE, Neb. – Outside hitters Linsey Rachel and Kenzie Foley each double-doubled as No. 7 St. Cloud State took down No. 12 Northwest Missouri State in the First Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament on Friday evening at Rice Auditorium. The Huskies advance to the Round of 32 on Saturday evening in Wayne, set to face tournament host No. 2 Wayne State in the Region Semifinal.

St. Cloud State's NCAA Tournament win is their first in exactly 27 years – their last national tournament victory coming on November 18, 1995 in the Sweet 16 over Northern Colorado.

Playing in her third career NCAA Tournament and already the Huskies' all-time kills leader, Rachel scored 18.5 points on the night to pass Cami Selbitschka for second all-time in program history. Middle blocker Phebie Rossi recorded her 400^th collegiate block in the win.

Rachel finished with 17 kills on .441 hitting – committing just two attacking errors on 34 swings – and added a match-high 18 digs for a double-double. Foley led all players with 21 kills while providing 12 digs and three blocks. Rossi joined the duo in double-figures with 11 kills on .333 hitting, adding four blocks.

Emma Berran directed the offense masterfully, providing four different hitters 20-plus swings while piling up 52 assists – 13.0 per set – and double-doubling with 10 digs. The Huskies outhit the Bearcats .282 to .155 and outkilled them 63 to 45.

SCSU rolled to a 25-16 win in set one, hitting .412 on a 16-2-34 line while allowing just eight Northwest Missouri State kills. The Huskies defense forced NWMSU into six errors for a meager .057 hitting percentage in the set as Keely Kurschner racked up six digs alongside five each from Rachel and Berran. Foley put down six kills on .600 hitting in the frame.

The Huskies' efficiency cratered in the second set, hitting just .189 with 13 kills as they hit into three Bearcat blocks. Rachel stepped into the lead role in the frame, terminating on each of her five swings while adding five digs. The score drew even six times in the set – but St. Cloud State never trailed as they took the 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-22 win.

Foley and Rachel each sent down seven kills on better than .400 hitting in the third as the Huskies terminated a match-high 18 on .395 hitting. Berran found great success setting her star outsides, assisting on 16 kills in the frame. The offensive outburst wasn't enough to offset a difficult set for the SCSU block, as Northwest Missouri State hit .278 and took advantage of five Huskies service errors to push the match to a fourth frame.

A gritty fourth set saw six lead changes as neither side hit better than .170 and the two blocks combined for 7.0 total in the frame. The Huskies defense clamped down, holding the Bearcats to hit .108 with just 11 kills and seven attacking errors. Rossi led a 3.0-block set with two of her own, adding three kills for four of SCSU's points. Foley added six kills in the set to put NWMSU away.

Quotables – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"First of all, congratulations to Northwest Missouri State on a fantastic season. That's a heck of a team over there – they gave us all we could handle, especially so in the final three sets. Our women battled really well and did a great job scoring points. We put ourselves in a good spot offensively and kept them on their heels a little bit. Our offense was diverse enough where they had to defend all five attackers, and that really helped us out."

"I'm proud of these women. They have worked extremely hard all year and they have put us in situations where we can be successful on the court – I'm just extremely proud of them."

"We trust ourselves to stay aggressive – trust has been one of the words we've been focusing on lately. Trusting ourselves, trusting our setters, trusting our defense to cover us behind to allow us to take some aggressive swings. We did get blocked a little bit, but it didn't change the way we were going to go after the ball and mentally be aggressive. Kenzie and Linsey especially had some great shots where they were going short – Northwest Missouri sets up super deep down the line, their middle back is deep, their left back is off the court and we felt we could attack that. We had a couple balls off the blockers' hands and down the seam in the back row. They did a good job tonight."

Quotables – St. Cloud State graduate student outside hitter Linsey Rachel

"The momentum shifted quite a bit. We came back from a lot of points, they came back from a lot of points – having confidence in our teammates to know we can come back from a deficit, fight back and stay positive throughout the match was key."

"All of our hitters did a phenomenal job tonight. It really opened the net up for our hitters, and we were terminal. Northwest Missouri State played some great defense and had a lot of digs, but we didn't hold back and just kept swinging."

"Emma did a great job of finding an open net and creating one-on-ones for our hitters. At the DII level, you have to score in those one-on-ones. That was my mentality, finding open spots on the court and being confident that my teammates would be able to cover the block."

Quotables – St. Cloud State junior outside hitter Kenzie Foley

"I've been with this group of girls for three years now, and we've been working really hard each day in the gym to get where we want to go. Tonight was huge, especially for our seniors to get another match. We're going to take advantage of that and keep going."

"I'm excited to see who we match up with tomorrow. We'll be focused on our side – staying clean, limiting errors and staying aggressive. Keeping the other team on their toes, getting kills and staying offensive."

"I wanted to stay aggressive. The bench was telling me where to hit – the four-to-four shots midway through fourth set, Rachel Houle was telling me to go there. You have the team behind you to call shots so you're scoring at a high level."

Notables

Linsey Rachel hit .441 with a 17-kill, 18-dig double-double
Rachel moved to second all-time in career points, passing Cami Selbitschka (96'), while pushing her total to 1813.5
The grad student is 47 points away from becoming the program's all-time leader, which would pass Kathy Davis (88')
Kenzie Foley paced all scorers with 21 kills, adding 12 digs for a double-double while posting three blocks
Phebie Rossi recorded her 400^th collegiate block, racking up four to go with 11 kills on .333 hitting
Emma Berran dished out 52 assists while double-doubling with 10 digs and providing three blocks
Keely Kurschner dug out 15 swings, assisted on six kills and scored an ace
Makena Hollman hit .333 with seven kills
Sam Zimmerman added seven kills and four blocks
The NCAA Tournament win is the program's first in exactly 27 years as their last national tournament victory was earned in the Sweet 16 on November 18, 1995 over Northern Colorado
St. Cloud State is now 3-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 13-17 all-time including AIAW national play
The Huskies are now 9-3 in postseason play under head coach Chad Braegelmann and 1-2 in NCAA Tournament competition

Up Next
The Huskies advance to the NCAA Central Region Semifinal in the Round of 32 on Saturday evening, squaring off with tournament host and top seed No. 2 Wayne State. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. CT at Rice Auditorium with live coverage available on the NSIC Network and 88.1 FM KVSC.

Information regarding single game and season tickets can be found at scsutickets.com. For all the latest on St. Cloud State Volleyball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.