Offensive Outburst Fuels No. 13 Huskies Volleyball to Sweep Mavericks

Saturday, October 21

St. Cloud, Minn.

2:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

16-6,9-4NSIC

Minnesota State-Mankato

10-10,5-7NSIC

Minnesota St.

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Kaitlyn Zuehl

Offensive Outburst Fuels No. 13 Huskies Volleyball to Sweep Mavericks

10/21/2023 5:45:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

SCSU hits .418 with 51 kills in straight set win over Minnesota State-Mankato

ST. CLOUD Minn. – No. 13 St. Cloud State Volleyball (16-6, 9-4 NSIC) enjoyed one of their most productive offensive performances of the season in a straight set win over Minnesota State-Mankato (10-10, 5-7 NSIC) at Halenbeck Hall on Saturday afternoon, taking the match 25-13, 25-15 and 25-21. Three Huskies recorded double-digit kills while four hit .333 or better as sophomore setter Emma Berran dished out 48 assists and saw her hitters record a .585 kill percentage on her sets.

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sam Zimmerman paced the offense with 16 kills on a whopping .714 hitting percentage while adding three blocks. Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley hit .333 with 14 kills and 14 digs for a double-double, adding a block to her line. Freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz produced 11 kills on .474 hitting with two blocks and a dig while junior opposite Natalie Tesch provided seven kills and a pair of blocks while hitting .545.

Junior libero Keely Kurschner anchored a tremendous defensive effort with 12 digs and three aces, helping the Huskies limit Minnesota State to just 26 kills. The Huskies outkilled the Mavericks 51 to 26, leaning on their high-paced attack to keep their opponents out of system throughout the afternoon.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"A really great bounce-back weekend for us after going 0-2 last week. Our ladies just did a fantastic job – it shows a lot of character after the losses where we didn't feel like we played our best volleyball, and I thought they played a lot more focused. That sense of urgency we talked about was there, we served well and played much cleaner offensively. I'm really proud of the effort the ladies put in this past week."

"Sam was on fire – in the first set she had seven kills on eight swings. Kenzie was solid today hitting well over .300, Hannah and Natalie were amazing today – really good balance. When you have four hitters hit above .300, you're going to have a chance to be successful. Our servers did enough to make them uncomfortable, we got some aces and got them out of system. I'm proud of our effort there. We could have blocked a little bit better, but that gives us something to work on this week in practice."

"Emma really just did a great job. She got her feet to the ball much better, was really neutral with her body position. I thought she did a great job tonight of being neutral, feeling the middle blocker on the other side and setting our hot hitters. She did a really good job of her set distribution tonight – I'm very proud of her effort today."

NOTABLES

Emma Berran posted 48 assists, six digs and three aces while her hitters recorded a .585 kill percentage on her sets
Sam Zimmerman hit .714 with 16 kills and three blocks
Kenzie Foley double-doubled with 14 kills and 14 digs on .333 hitting, adding a block
Hannah Bruskiewicz put away 11 kills on .474 hitting with two blocks
Natalie Tesch hit .545 with seven kills and a pair of blocks
Keely Kurschner recorded 12 digs and three aces
The Huskies outkilled Minnesota State-Mankato 51-26 and outhit them .418 to .205

Up Next
The Huskies look ahead to a road match at Winona State on Saturday, October 28 with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT. Live coverage is available on the NSIC Network with live stats provided by Winona State. Links to each coverage option are available on the SCSU Volleyball schedule page.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Volleyball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.