Middles lead No. 8 Huskies to perfect weekend in Florida

Saturday, September 3

West Palm Beach, Fla.

3:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

8-0,0-0NSIC

New Haven

3-5,0-0NE10

St. Cloud St.

New Haven

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

9/3/2022 6:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

St. Cloud State goes 4-0 at Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach, winning all 12 sets

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 8 St. Cloud State Volleyball leaned on their middle hitters to close out their perfect Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach showing with a straight-set win over New Haven on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Zimmerman posted a career-high 11 kills on .438 hitting while Phebie Rossi hit .400 with eight kills to power the Huskies offense. Makena Hollman was absolutely dominant swinging from the right pin, putting down eight kills on 11 swings with zero errors (.727 hitting %).

Kenzie Foley sent home double-digit kills for the seventh time in 2022, recording 10 on .429 hitting. The Huskies' service work was stellar as Linsey Rachel (3), Rachel Houle (2), Keely Kurschner (2), Allena Shimon (1) and Rossi (1) combined for nine aces.

Turning Point

SCSU's work at the net was noticeable early, as the Huskies held New Haven to hit .000 (8 K/8 E) in the first set. The Chargers hit .152 in the second and .147 in the third, struggling to get into system throughout the match. St. Cloud State has held opponents to a .134 hitting percentage this season, with no team hitting better that .173 through eight matches.

Quotables – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"Offensively, I thought we were very balanced with kills. We did a really good job of attacking from the right pin, Makena Hollman was pretty good offensively – she didn't have a hitting error and hit .727, that's pretty good if my memory serves me correctly. Sam Zimmerman was really good on slides and was hitting over .600 mostly on slides. Defensively, we kept them to right around .100 the whole match. They're a super scrappy team, I thought we did a nice job being patient with our attacking and not trying to do too much. It was a great weekend overall – we'll enjoy this for a couple days and start preparing for conference play."

On the Huskies' defense in 2022… "Our block has done a pretty good job of getting touches and slowing things down, and then our defenders behind it have been very scrappy. Keely Kurschner – she was great last week and very solid again this week – Linsey Rachel, Rachel Houle and Kenzie Foley put us in a really good spot. It helps to have a lot of experience back there."

Notables

Makena Hollman had a career-best eight kills on 11 swings (0 E, .727)
Sam Zimmerman's 11 kills set a new career-high for the redshirt freshman
Zimmerman hit .485 with 3.50 kills a set through the day's two matches
Phebie Rossi added eight kills on .400 hitting
Kenzie Foley hit .429 with 10 kills, her seventh match in which she has put away double-digit kills
Foley is averaging 5.61 points and 4.65 kills a set on .341 hitting this season
Rachel Houle had a match-high nine digs to go with a pair of aces
Linsey Rachel is nine kills away from passing Kim Pellman for third all-time in program history
Over their four matches at the Bash at the Beach, SCSU hit .334 with 14.42 kills a set and held opponents to hit .135
St. Cloud State is outhitting opponents .298 to .134 this season
SCSU has hit .327 or better in five of eight matches to open 2022
The Huskies have lost just one set this season, going 24-1 in sets

Up Next

The Huskies open NSIC play with road matches at Mary and Minot State on September 9-10. Both matches will be broadcast on the NSIC Network.

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.