Stifling Defense Guides No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball to Straight Set Win at Mary

Saturday, September 16

Bismarck, N.D.

2:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

9-2,2-0NSIC

Mary

4-6,0-2NSIC

St. Cloud St.

Mary

Junior opposite Natalie Tesch (11) celebrates a solo block during St. Cloud State's win over Mary on Sep. 16, 2023 at the McDowell Activity Center

Stifling Defense Guides No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball to Straight Set Win at Mary

9/16/2023 6:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Huskies allow just 20 kills in three sets while holding Mary to hit a meager .056

BISMARCK, N.D. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball (9-2, 2-0 NSIC) turned in an incredible defense effort in a road sweep of Mary (4-6, 0-2 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, taking the match 25-17, 25-18 and 25-19. The Huskies defense limited Mary to just 20 kills on .056 hitting, forcing 15 attacking errors with seven stuff blocks.

Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley led all players with 10 kills while adding nine digs and a season-high four aces, anchoring a tremendous SCSU serving effort. The Huskies aced Mary nine times with junior libero Keely Kurschner adding two alongside her match-leading 13 digs. Freshman outside hitter Abby Wachal and freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz each provided eight kills while redshirt sophomore Sam Zimmerman scored seven on .263 hitting with four blocks. Junior opposite Natalie Tesch scored seven kills while posting a career-high three blocks.

Kurschner's 13 digs anchored the defensive effort as freshman defensive specialist Annika Forbes set a new career best with seven of her own to go with an ace. Sophomore setter Emma Berran nearly double-doubled for the second straight night, finishing with 26 assists and nine digs alongside two kills and an ace.

The Huskies forced Mary into 11 attacking errors with just six kills in the opening set, blocking the Marauders a whopping six times. Zimmerman posted four, Bruskiewicz added three, Wachal chipped in two and Berran had one as the Huskies controlled the net and forced Mary away from their early gameplan in a 25-17 first set win.

Set two saw St. Cloud State's offense settle in for stretches, terminating 16 kills with five from Foley. Kurschner flew around the court for seven digs in the frame while Foley added five as part of a 17-dig team effort. SCSU took the middle frame 25-18 as Mary managed just seven kills.

Five Huskies aces and 16 more digs on the defensive end sealed the match with a 25-19 final in the third set. SCSU found great success keeping Mary out of system and handled their opponents' tips and rolls well, grinding out the final frame. Wachal, Foley and Tesch each provided three kills in the set.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"I thought we played well in that first set from the service line and blocked well. A scrappy Mary team, they wanted to play well at home in front of a good crowd for them tonight. They put us some in some uncomfortable positions and made some late runs in each set – overall, I'm pretty proud of our women for coming out of a long road trip with two wins."

"We talk a little bit about defensive alignment, block lineups – the good thing is if you don't let other teams score, you can be pretty successful. We don't have to hit .400 if we keep them at zero through two sets. Proud of the work we did defensively, we've been working on pieces of that this week in practice. It's been fun to see that show up in matches this weekend."

"We've put ourselves in a good spot, winning our first two matches. We're excited to show Huskies fans what we've been working on for the last nine months – it's been a while since they've seen us at Halenbeck, so we're excited to be back at home."

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State junior libero Keely Kurschner

"Our block was doing a really good job today of setting up – all of our defenders were filling behind them. We were on our toes a lot tonight picking up a lot of things and being ready for any shot."

On her impressive weekend… "I've been focusing on watching the hitter's body instead of the ball – the hitter gives me a lot of cues about what they're going to do. If they're dropping their elbow I'm ready for a run-through ball – I think I've been doing a better job of that lately."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley led all players with 10 kills and four aces while adding nine digs and an assist
Keely Kurschner recorded 13 digs, three assists and two aces
Sam Zimmerman hit .263 with seven kills and four blocks
Abby Wachal terminated eight kills while adding five digs and three blocks
Hannah Bruskiewicz put away eight kills to go with two blocks
Emma Berran provided 26 assists, nine digs, two kills and an ace
Natalie Tesch scored seven kills and a career-high three blocks with one dig
Annika Forbes set a career best with seven digs and scored an ace
Allena Shimon scored once from the service line and added two digs
SCSU's defense allowed a season-low 20 kills and posted their second match of the season with an opponent attack percentage below .100
The Huskies have now held their opponents below 10 kills per set in eight of 11 matches this season
St. Cloud State is now 51-11 in league play dating back to 2019

UP NEXT
The Huskies return to St. Cloud for their Home Opener on Friday, September 22 against MSU-Moorhead at Halenbeck Hall. First serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT with live coverage available on the NSIC Network as well as live stats provided by St. Cloud State. Links to each coverage option are available 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.