No. 7 SCSU Volleyball Drops Nanooks in Straight Sets

Thursday, August 31

Anchorage, Alaska

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

1-0,0-0NSIC

Alaska Fairbanks

1-4,0-0Great Northwest

Alas. Fairbanks

St. Cloud St.

Natalie Tesch (R) celebrates with her teammates after a kill against Alaska Fairbanks on Aug. 31, 2023

8/31/2023 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Huskies open 2023 season with sweep of UAF, Foley leads all players with 14 kills

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – No. 7 St. Cloud State Volleyball (1-0, 0-0 NSIC) opened their 2023 campaign with a sweep of Alaska Fairbanks (1-4, 0-0 GNAC) at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage on Thursday evening, taking the match 25-17, 25-21 and 25-19. Senior outside Kenzie Foley led the Huskies with 14 kills, junior opposite Natalie Tesch hit .455 with seven kills and freshman outside Abby Wachal posted six kills and five digs in the win.

The Huskies' defense forced Fairbanks into 20 attacking errors and held their opponent to hit just .130 with 33 kills, outkilling them 43-33. St. Cloud State's serve receive allowed just two aces as Wachal and junior libero Keely Kurschner went a combined 29-for-29 to anchor the passing game.

SCSU kept Fairbanks to just eight kills in the first set, piling up 15 of their own while ending rallies early with terminal offense led by Foley. The senior captain powered down seven kills in the opening frame on .417 hitting, adding a block for 7.5 points.

Tesch put away four kills on four swings in the second set, leading St. Cloud State to a wild 25-21 win in a frame that saw three ties and two lead changes. Foley added four kills with two each from freshman middle Hannah Bruskiewicz and sophomore setter Emma Berran. The Huskies' setter enjoyed a strong Opening Night, posting 32 assists, nine digs, four kills on .800 hitting and a pair of aces. Berran's hitters were terminal on a terrific 42.1% of her sets throughout the night.

Set three saw the Huskies find their efficiency, hitting .346 in the set with Berran's hitters cashing in on 54.5% of her sets. Wachal went 3-0-4 in the set to lead the pack while redshirt sophomore middle Sam Zimmerman sent down four kills of her own. SCSU forced Alaska Fairbanks into eight errors and a match-low .074 hitting percentage to seal the straight set win.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"That was a good Fairbanks team. They're experienced, they're tall and they are fantastic blockers. They definitely outblocked us tonight and put a lot of pressure on us. I'm happy with the way our women responded – they put some pressure on us in the second and third set early on, we responded really well and fought back. A good opening match for our women, and I'm pretty proud of the way we played tonight."

On new faces handling large roles on Opening Night… "All of them did some things well for stretches of time, and all of them had a few moments where their inexperience showed. I like what they did out there, but they're definitely going to get a lot better with more experience."

On Natalie Tesch's strong performance on the right pin… "Natalie was fantastic over there. She scored really well and was very efficient, they hardly dug her all night. She does a nice job with that lefthanded swing, she took some great swings for us and made their defense very uncomfortable."

Takeaways going into Friday… "I thought we did well in serve-and-pass, and actually did a good job limiting our errors. We try to average at most right around seven, and we were around eight a set tonight. We have to do a little bit better job of limiting their runs. We made a few mistakes in the third set where we could have done a little bit better job of limiting those runs. Lots of things to work on with our defensive moves as well."

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State junior opposite Natalie Tesch

On being back on the court… "It was really exciting! It was so fun to be back in a gym, playing a match that counts. Our practices have been feeling long with how antsy we've been to play – it felt good to have our energy and get that first win under our belt."

On the success of new personnel… "Props to our opponent – they were a very good blocking team and they definitely put a lot of pressure on our hitters. We do have amazing blockers in our practices as well, it was great to see different lineups and matchups. Working together as a team to make the pass and the set so our hitters could be in a great spot to beat the block."

On her tremendous performance… "Chad, Marci and I have been working on different shots and especially reading the block. I'm glad that paid off – if they take away the line, hit cross, take away the cross, hit line. I've been focusing on reading that block and keeping really good body-ball."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley led all players with 14 kills while adding four digs and a block
Natalie Tesch hit .455 with a career-high seven kills, adding two digs and a block
Emma Berran produced 32 assists, nine digs, four kills on .800 hitting and two aces
Abby Wachal sent down six kills in her collegiate debut alongside five digs, two aces and a block
Wachal went 19-for-19 in serve receive
Keely Kurschner provided 13 digs, three assists and an ace while going 10-for-10 in serve receive
Sam Zimmerman put away six kills with three blocks
Hannah Bruskiewicz recorded five kills with three blocks
The Huskies outkilled UAF 43-33 and outhit them .263 to .130
SCSU posted a .963 in serve receive and allowed just two aces
With their win over UAF, the Huskies have now won four straight Opening Night matches dating back to 2019 and five of their last six under head coach Chad Braegelmann
Wachal, Bruskiewicz, freshman outside Shelby Kimm and freshman defensive specialist Annika Forbes each made their collegiate debuts

UP NEXT
The Huskies meet Florida Tech on Friday at 11:30 a.m. ADT / 2:30 p.m. CT and No. 14 Alaska Anchorage at 7:00 p.m. ADT / 10:00 p.m. CT. Both matches will be streamed on YouTube along with Live Stats provided by UAA. Links to both coverage options can be found on the SCSU Volleyball schedule page.

Single match and season ticket information can be found on 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.