No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball Falls to No. 1 CSP

Tuesday, September 12

St. Paul, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

7-2,0-0NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

9-0,0-0NSIC

St. Cloud St.

Concordia-St. Paul

The Huskies huddle during St. Cloud State's loss to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Sep. 12, 2023 at the Gangelhoff Center

9/12/2023 9:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Huskies fall in straight sets as Golden Bears hit .440 with 50 kills

ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball (7-2, 0-0 NSIC) fell in straight sets to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul (9-0, 0-0 NSIC) on Tuesday evening at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, dropping the match 19-25, 19-25 and 20-25. The Huskies struggled to contain the Golden Bear offense, allowing 50 kills on .440 hitting as CSP found themselves in system throughout the evening.

Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley led SCSU with 14 kills on .355 hitting, adding three digs and a block. The St. Cloud State offense hit a strong .284 on the night as sophomore setter Emma Berran handed out 31 assists with five digs and a pair of blocks, finding freshman outside Abby Wachal and freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz for seven kills each on .375 and .333 hitting respectively.

Defense proved to be the difference in the match as the Huskies were outkilled 50 to 35 and outhit .440 to .284 while Concordia-St. Paul posted a whopping .550 kill percentage. St. Cloud State found difficulty keeping the Golden Bears out of system, recording just one ace as CSP boasted a .980 reception percentage. The Huskies recorded only 27 digs in the match as CSP's offense terminated nearly every in-system ball.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"There's a reason why Concordia is ranked No. 1 in the country. They do everything at a very high level – serve receive, offensively they were in system the whole time, they dug balls, they were very efficient and didn't make many attack errors. They served so tough and got us out of system for stretches in each of the three sets, and that's where they created separation. I'm proud of the way our women fought today, but overall not a good enough effort to beat a team ranked No. 1 in the country."

On the impressive turnout from the Huskies fanbase… "We had quite a few alumna in the stands, a few former players' parents in the stands – it's fun to see how far we've come that way with the ability to draw people back in. The relationships, the people, I'm sure they want to see us win, but also to see the people that they've known and created those relationships with over the years. It's been fun to see that grow."

Looking ahead to conference play… "We're not going to be very successful when we let teams hit over .500 in a set. We've got to continue to play better defensively – I felt we were on our heels a bunch tonight, lots of offspeed stuff that caught us off balance. Concordia can certainly get on top of the ball and bounce some balls, and we had to respect that. We have to continue to read body-ball better and do a better job of creating dig transition kills. We'll be looking to continue to serve tougher, serve in more consistently and certainly continue to work on our passing game."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley led SCSU with 14 kills on .355 hitting while adding three digs and a block
Abby Wachal put away seven kills on .375 hitting, adding five digs
Hannah Bruskiewicz hit .333 with seven kills and two blocks
Emma Berran posted 31 assists with five digs and two blocks
Sam Zimmerman terminated five kills
The Huskies were outkilled 50 to 35 and outhit .440 to .284
SCSU recorded just one ace and had only 27 digs in the match

UP NEXT
St. Cloud State begins conference play this weekend with visits to Minot State and Mary on Friday and Saturday respectively. Both matches will be broadcast on the NSIC Network with live stats provided by the host institutions – links to each coverage option 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.