No. 6 Huskies Volleyball Sweeps MSUM in Home Opener

Friday, September 22

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

10-2,3-0NSIC

MSU-Moorhead

4-7,1-2NSIC

MSU Moorhead

St. Cloud St.

The Huskies celebrate a point during St. Cloud State's win over MSU-Moorhead at Halenbeck Hall on Sept. 22, 2023

Photo by: Justyce Porter

9/22/2023 11:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

St. Cloud State outhits Dragons .263 to .052 as Kurschner leads with 22 digs

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball (10-2, 3-0 NSIC) opened their home schedule with a straight-set win over MSU-Moorhead (4-7, 1-2 NSIC) at Halenbeck Hall on Friday evening, taking the match 25-20, 25-11 and 25-19. The Huskies' defense continued its terrific start to conference play, holding MSUM to just 24 kills on .052 hitting – forcing 19 attacking errors as junior libero Keely Kurschner piled up 22 digs to slow the Dragon attack.

Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley led all scorers with 16 kills on .314 hitting while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sam Zimmerman hit a Huskies-leading .385 with 12 kills and two blocks. Foley entered the program's Top 10 list for career kills with her 16 on the evening, passing both Ashley Shields and GiGi DesLauriers to move into ninth with 1126 – now in need of 23 more to reach Swen Minnema for eight all time.

Sophomore setter Emma Berran piled up 42 assists as her offense put away 48 kills in the three set match, finding junior opposite Natalie Tesch and freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz for nine kills each.

Seven kills each from Foley and Zimmerman in the opening set helped lead the Huskies to a 25-20 win. Berran dished out 15 assists in the frame while Kurschner piled up an incredible 10 digs, helping the defense hold MSUM to a .105 attack percentage.

SCSU played one of their cleanest sets of the season in the second, steamrolling the Dragons 25-11 behind 15 kills and just one attacking error on .484 hitting. The Huskies terminated nearly 60% of Berran's sets and forced Moorhead into eight attack errors with just seven kills.

Defense paved the way to a 25-19 match-clinching win in the final frame as SCSU limited MSUM to seven kills and a .069 attack percentage. Foley and Tesch each provided four kills while Zimmerman and Bruskiewicz each put down three. Kurschner's work on the defensive end again impressed, logging six digs while shutting down the Dragon attack.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"It was a nice team win for us tonight. Offensively we were fairly balanced, we had four hitters with nine or more kills in three sets. Our serving was fantastic tonight – we did a nice job of keeping them out of system. Proud of the work our servers did. We really limited them offensively."

"It's good to have Keely healthy again. She played through some things in the preseason, and I'm pretty proud of the work she's done there. You set up the defense to make attackers hit to some of your best diggers, so we try to funnel stuff to her that way. She dug a couple tough balls tonight and did what she's capable of doing – she did a really nice job back there tonight."

"Definitely a fantastic crowd tonight! Huskies faithful came out big-time, we had a really great student section tonight. Great fan support tonight, we're really happy to be back at home."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley led the match with 16 kills on .314 hitting with six digs, two aces and a block
Foley moved into ninth all-time on the Huskies' career kills list, climbing to 1126 while passing both Ashley Shields and GiGi DesLauriers
Keely Kurschner piled up 22 digs with one ace
Sam Zimmerman hit .385 while supplying 12 kills and two blocks
Emma Berran handed out 42 assists with three digs, two kills and a pair of blocks
Natalie Tesch hit .353 with a career best nine kills and four digs
Hannah Bruskiewicz put away nine kills on .263 hitting with two blocks
The Huskies outhit MSUM .263 to .052 and outkilled them 48 to 24
SCSU has held their opponent below 10 kills per set in nine of 12 matches this season and has held their opponent below .100 hitting three times
St. Cloud State improves to 34-6 at home since 2019

UP NEXT
The Huskies close out the weekend with a 2:00 p.m. CT start against Northern State on Saturday afternoon at Halenbeck Hall.

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