No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball Falls in NCAA Tournament to No. 16 Central Missouri

Thursday, November 30

St. Paul, Minn.

5:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

22-9,13-5NSIC

Central Missouri

25-7,18-2Mid-America Intercollegiate

St. Cloud St.

Central Mo.

Photo by: Dylan De Baldo

No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball Falls in NCAA Tournament to No. 16 Central Missouri

11/30/2023 11:46:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Huskies drop NCAA Tournament opening round match 3-0

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Fifth-seeded No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball (22-9, 13-5 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) fell to fourth-seeded No. 16 Central Missouri (25-7, 18-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Conference) in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Volleyball tournament on Thursday night at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, 25-13, 25-23 and 25-20. The Huskies season came to a close as Central Missouri advances to play first-seeded No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul on Friday.

NSIC/Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Central Region/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Central Region Player of the Year, senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluffs, Iowa), recorded a team-high 12 kills but was limited to just .105 hitting. Foley also recorded nine digs just missing out on her 21^st double-double of the season. Middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.) had a solid finish to her freshman campaign sending down eight kills on .312 hitting. Freshman Shelby Kimm (North Liberty, Iowa) had yet another balanced night, recording nine digs, five kills, and two service aces. The Huskies owned a .377 kill percentage on sets by sophomore All-NSIC Second Team/AVCA All-Central Region honorable mention honoree setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) as she provided a team-high 29 assists.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"Congratulations to an outstanding Central Missouri team – we watched film on them, and they did everything we saw on film. They ran through their MIAA Tournament last weekend, and they did the same thing tonight. I cannot praise them enough – they played better than us. They out dug us, they out killed us, they out blocked us, they out served us, and just tip of the cap to them. With our young women – I couldn't be more proud of where we were, with everyone we lost last year to graduation. For these women to fight through the season – we had some tough matches in the middle of the year – and finish with 22 wins and another NCAA Tournament appearance. These seniors made three straight conference tournament championship match appearance – I couldn't be more proud of these young ladies."

NOTABLES

SCSU played in its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Foley led the team in kills with 17 on .105 hitting. She also added nine digs, two assists and one block assist.
Bruskiewicz recorded the second most kills for the Huskies (eight) on .312 hitting and added one dig and one block assist.
Kimm recorded nine digs, five kills, two service aces and one block assist.
Berran recorded a team-high 29 assists. She also tallied one service ace.
All-NSIC First Teamer, redshirt sophomore Sam Zimmerman (Moorhead, Minn.) tallied six kills on .400 hitting, one block assists and one dig.
Junior opposite Natalie Tesch (Milwaukee, Wis.) sent down three kills and dug one ball.
Junior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.) recorded eight digs.
Senior defensive specialist Allena Shimon (Des Moines, Iowa) closed out her Husky career with four digs and one service ace.

SEASON NOTES

SCSU was led this year in kills by Foley (545), service aces by Berran (45), assists by Berran (1,235), digs by Kurschner (443) and blocks by Zimmerman (85).
Foley was named the NSIC Player of the Year (first player in program history), D2CCA Central Region Player of the year (first player in program history), AVCA Central Region Player of the Year (first player in program history), NSIC First Team (third time), D2CCA Central Region First Team (second time), AVCA Central Region First Team (third time), NSIC All-Tournament Team (third time), NSIC Offensive Player of the Week four times (9/11, 9/25, 10/23, 11/6) and Seawolf Invitational Most Outstanding Player, Up North All-Tournament Team.
Zimmerman was named to the NSIC First Team.
Berran was named to the NSIC Second Team, AVCA Central Region Honorable Mention, NSIC Setter of the Week twice (9/25 and 10/23) and Seawolf All-Tournament Team.
This was the fourth consecutive year that the Huskies have had at least two players named to All-Region teams.
It was the fourth season in a row making it to the NSIC Tournament Championship match.
It was the fourth straight season making the NCAA Tournament.
Foley moved into/up many school record leaderboards. She is currently No. 1 in career kill percentage (.444) She is also now No. 2 in season kills (545), No. 4 in career kills (1,480), No. 4 in season attacks (1,211), No. 6 in career attacks, No. 7 in career points (1,670.5) and No. 9 in career digs.
Foley became the fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 kills (13^th overall) and the 11^th member of the 1,000-dig club this season.
Foley tied the single-game record for kills (32). She is one of only two players in program history to record 30+ in a single match.
Foley had double-digit kills in every game, 20+ kills in 10 and 30+ in one. She moved up to No. 1 all-time in career matches with 20+ kills (24) and No. 2 all-time in individual double-digit kill matches for a career (84).
Foley recorded 20 double-doubles, moving up to No. 2 all-time for career double-doubles (59)
After just two seasons, Berran is No. 9 in career assists. Earlier this season she became the first player in program history to record 1,000+ assists in each of her first two seasons.
Kurshcner is approaching 1,000 career digs (968) and will enter the top 10 next year.