No. 5 Huskies Volleyball Sweeps Northern Michigan as Foley Records 1,000th Career Kill

Thursday, September 7

Duluth, Minn.

5:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

5-0,0-0NSIC

Northern Michigan

1-4,0-0GLIAC

Northern Mich.

St. Cloud St.

Kenzie Foley (middle) celebrates a kill during St. Cloud State's win over Northern Michigan on Sep. 7, 2023 at Romano Gymnasium

No. 5 Huskies Volleyball Sweeps Northern Michigan as Foley Records 1,000th Career Kill

9/7/2023 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Foley becomes fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills, posts 15-kill double-double

DULUTH, Minn. – Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley became the fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 kills as No. 5 St. Cloud State Volleyball (5-0, 0-0 NSIC) handled Northern Michigan (1-4, 0-0 GLIAC) in straight sets on Thursday evening at Romano Gymnasium, taking the match 25-13, 25-20 and 25-16. Foley is the 13^th member of the Huskies' 1,000 Career Kill club and provided a 15-kill, 10-dig double-double to support the win.

Hitting .565 with her third double-double of the season, Foley also went a perfect 17-for-17 in serve receive while adding a block and an ace. Freshman middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz recorded six kills and three blocks on .333 hitting while freshman outside Shelby Kimm and junior opposite Natalie Tesch each added six kills of their own. Kimm dug out 10 swings and was a strong 17-for-18 in serve receive.

Senior libero Keely Kurschner added a 9-for-9 effort in serve receive to help the Huskies receive a .978 with just one ace allowed. Kurschner recorded 10 digs to tie for the match lead. Sophomore setter Emma Berran handed out 33 assists to go with two digs, two kills and an ace as her offense hit .260 on the night.

SCSU cruised to a 25-13 win in the opening set as the offense hit an incredible .393 behind a 4-0-5 effort from Bruskiewicz. Foley and Kimm each added three kills in the set as Berran converted 11 of her 20 sets for assists. The Huskies sided out on 13 of 14 chances, holding Northern Michigan to just eight kills in the frame.

A phenomenal six kills on six swings for Foley in the second set helped the Huskies earn a 25-20 win, adding five points from the service line as Kimm and freshman defensive specialist Annika Forbes each aced NMU twice.

Foley continued her tear in the third, hammering down six kills on .545 hitting while piling up a whopping eight digs in the set. Redshirt sophomore Sam Zimmerman added four kills on six swings in the frame, hitting .667 to help St. Cloud State close out a 25-16 win.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"That was a Northern Michigan team that looks a little different than they have in past years. Their second setter did a very nice job when they made that switch midway through the second set, that really helped them out – it forced the tempo a little bit. We were put in situations where we were a little bit uncomfortable. Overall we have to be just a little bit more consistent. Kenzie was pretty solid from the serve receive line, attacking she was pretty good, we just have to continue to find other options that play well from the first set through the last set."

On Kenzie Foley reaching 1,000 kills faster than any Husky… "She puts in a lot of work. She works hard, she knows the game of volleyball, she competes, she loves the challenge of being out there. I'm pretty proud of the work she's done and continues to do in the other facets of her game. She's a great passer – I joke with her that now she needs to get 1,000 digs, continue to play defense in the back row so her teammates can keep getting some kills as well."

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley

On reaching 1,000 career kills… "Coming into tonight I knew I was close, but I wasn't really thinking about that – I wanted to win the game. The team win was huge. Individual awards come with team wins. I thought our back row did a great job of putting us in great positions to score and Emma kept giving us great balls – it was funny to have my 1,000^th kill come from Keely on an out-of-system ball."

On what's clicking early for her and the Huskies… "Being able to lead the way I wanted to lead this year – I think our team is really buying into being one on the court and off the court. We're best friends on and off the court, and that's transferring over to how our team is playing because we're that much more in tune with each other."

NOTABLES

Kenzie Foley recorded her third consecutive double-double with 15 kills and 10 digs on .565 hitting, adding a block and an ace
Foley joined the program's 1,000 Career Kill club on her second kill of the first set, becoming the fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 kills and the 13^th Husky to reach the milestone
The match marked the 30^th in Foley's career with at least 15 kills while her double-double became the 42^nd in her career
Hannah Bruskiewicz posted six kills on .333 hitting to go with three blocks
Emma Berran dished out 33 assists with two kills, a block and an ace
Keely Kurschner recorded 10 digs while anchoring the defense
Shelby Kimm provided six kills, 10 digs, two blocks and matched her career best with three aces
Natalie Tesch scored six kills while adding two digs
Sam Zimmerman produced five kills
Annika Forbes served extremely well and scored a career-high two aces
SCSU outkilled Northern Michigan 40-27 and outhit them .260 to .101
Through their first five matches, the Huskies have held their opponents to hit no better than .135 in a single match
With just 27 kills allowed, SCSU has held their opponents under 40 kills for the third time in five matches and allowed less than 10 kills per set in four of five

UP NEXT
The Huskies turn their focus to two matches on Friday at Romano Gymnasium, meeting Southern New Hampshire at 9:30 a.m. CT then facing Michigan Tech at 2:30 p.m. CT. Both matches will be broadcast on the NSIC Network and 97.5 FM RadioX with live stats provided by Minnesota Duluth. 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.