No. 6 SCSU Volleyball Steamrolls Northern State in Straight Sets

Saturday, September 23

St. Cloud, Minn.

2:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

11-2,4-0NSIC

Northern State

10-2,3-1NSIC

Northern St.

St. Cloud St.

Sophomore setter Emma Berran dishes out a set during No. 6 St. Cloud State's win over Northern State on September 23, 2023 at Halenbeck Hall

Photo by: Kaitlyn Zuehl

No. 6 SCSU Volleyball Steamrolls Northern State in Straight Sets

9/23/2023 11:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Phenomenal defense leads to terminal offense as Foley and Kimm combine for 29 kills

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Volleyball (11-2, 4-0 NSIC) played one of their most complete matches of the season in a sweep of Northern State (10-2, 3-1 NSIC) at Halenbeck Hall on Saturday afternoon, taking the match 25-18, 26-24 and 25-6. Facing a Wolves team in search of their second straight upset win following a five set victory over No. 7 UMD the previous night, SCSU leaned on a high-paced offense to outkill Northern 46 to 24 and outhit them .307 to .071.

The Huskies' defense was phenomenal yet again, piling up seven stuff blocks with a career high seven from freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz, five from sophomore setter Emma Berran and four each courtesy of redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sam Zimmerman and senior outside Kenzie Foley. Berran piled up 39 assists with the Huskies posting a .509 kill percentage on her sets, chipping in five digs, a kill and one ace. Foley led all players with a whopping 19 kills on .378 hitting while follow outside hitter Shelby Kimm put away 10 kills on .471 hitting and a .588 kill percentage.

SCSU scored seven times from the service line with freshman defensive specialist Annika Forbes matching her career high with three aces while the Huskies serve receive was aced just twice. Junior libero Keely Kurschner went 13-for-13 in serve receive while providing 11 digs and two assists.

The Huskies flourished when in system in the opening set as Foley terminated each of her seven swings while Kimm posted a 4-0-6 line. Berran handed out 15 assists with a kill rate of nearly 58%, setting her outsides extremely well. SCSU took the opening frame 25-18, limiting Northern to just nine kills.

St. Cloud State struggled to keep their momentum in the early stages of the second set, falling behind 17-10 at one point as NSU served tougher and put the Huskies out of system more consistently. A 16-7 run to close the set earned SCSU a thrilling 26-24 win. Foley and Kimm combined for 10 kills in the set as Berran dished out another 15 assists.

Long service runs by both Berran and Forbes broke down Northern State in a dominant 25-6 match-sealing third set as the duo combined for three aces. The Wolves recorded just three kills while committing eight attacking errors, hitting -.217 in the set as the Huskies blocked them three times. Foley terminated six kills on 10 swings as the feature hitter in the frame.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"Another very solid team win for us tonight. I was very impressed with our defense – we had a goal of limiting them to 10 kills per set or fewer tonight, and we certainly met that goal. We made some good adjustments as the match went on, defensive intensity and alignment was good. Overall we were pretty clean offensively, our passing was pretty solid and we served really tough."

"It helped that Northern was keying a little bit more on some of our other hitters, but Kenzie and Shelby did a really good job of attacking their one-on-ones today. Emma really forced the tempo to make the hitters feel a little faster, they seem to do a nice job when the tempo is a little faster. Kenzie and Shelby did a really good job of getting their feet to the ball, putting a good swing on it and being efficient."

"We thought that Northern would try to attack our hands – our practices focused on hand placement, grabbing the ball and being intentional that way. Our block lineup helped a lot, as did our ability to force them away from the middles and keep them pin-heavy with their sets. It's so much easier when teams are not in system to get blocks, dig balls and play defense around a well-formed block."

"Marci really spearheaded our defensive efforts this week and did a fantastic job coming up with our defensive gameplan. We worked on defending balls outside the block, doing some attacking work with our diggers – I thought she did a fantastic job coming up with that this week."

"Seeing so many alumni at our match this afternoon was a treat – we're so thankful to have a base that continues to come out and support our women in the program."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley led the match with 19 kills on .378 hitting while adding nine digs, four blocks, an assist and one ace
Foley is now just five kills away from reaching Swen Minnema for seventh all-time in program history, currently standing at 1144 in her career
Shelby Kimm hit .471 with 10 kills and four digs
Hannah Bruskiewicz posted a career-high seven blocks while hitting .267 with six kills and an ace
Emma Berran posted 39 assists, five blocks, five digs, an ace and a kill
Berran's five block assists set a career best while her five blocks tie a career-high
Annika Forbes matched her career high with three aces
This match marked the third three-ace night for Forbes in 2023
Sam Zimmerman added six kills and four blocks
St. Cloud State set a new season best with 11.0 stuff blocks
The Huskies outhit Northern State 46 to 24 and outhit them .307 to .071
SCSU has held their opponent below 10 kills per set in 10 of 13 matches this season and has held their opponent below .100 hitting four times
St. Cloud State improves to 35-6 at home since 2019

UP NEXT
The Huskies look ahead to No. 1 Wayne State and Augustana next weekend at Halenbeck Hall with first serve set for 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. CT respectively on Friday and Saturday, September 29 and 30.

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