No. 5 Huskies Volleyball Drops Michigan Tech in Four

Friday, September 8

Duluth, Minn.

2:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

7-0,0-0NSIC

Michigan Tech

1-5,0-0GLIAC

St. Cloud St.

Michigan Tech

Freshman outside Shelby Kimm (center) celebrates one of her career-high 17 kills in St. Cloud State's win over Michigan Tech on Sep. 8, 2023

9/8/2023 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Kimm hits .500 and records 17-kill, 14 dig double-double; Zimmerman posts 13 kills on .458 hitting

DULUTH, Minn. – No. 5 St. Cloud State Volleyball (7-0, 0-0 NSIC) enjoyed a career match from freshman outside hitter Shelby Kimm in a comeback four-set win over Michigan Tech (1-5, 0-0 GLIAC) on Friday evening at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth, taking the match 23-25, 25-16, 25-17 and 25-21. Kimm set new career-highs with 17 kills, 14 digs and three blocks on .500 hitting for her first collegiate double-double while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sam Zimmerman matched her career mark with 13 kills on .458 hitting, leading SCSU with four blocks.

St. Cloud State's defense held Michigan Tech to hit just .186, marking their seventh straight match keeping opponents under .200 hitting to open the season. SCSU outhit Tech .293 to .186 while outkilling them 62 to 46. Junior libero Keely Kurschner averaged 5.0 digs a set with 20 on the night, adding two assists while going a perfect 14-for-14 in serve receive. The Huskies were aced just three times on the evening, receiving a .961.

Senior outside hitter Kenzie Foley recorded her fourth double-double in as many matches, terminating 16 kills with 14 digs alongside a pair of blocks and an ace. Freshman opposite Abby Wachal scored a career-high four aces while freshman defensive specialist Annika Forbes set a new career best with three aces of her own, helping St. Cloud State set a new season best with 10 aces. Wachal added nine kills, six digs and a block while hitting .269.

Sophomore setter Emma Berran had her offense clicking to the tune of a .293 hitting percentage, piling up 58 assists on a .464 assist percentage with two aces and three blocks. Her ball distribution shined throughout the afternoon as four hitters took at least 24 swings.

A wild first set established the tone for true battle as the score drew even 10 times and the lead changed hands three times. Kurschner recorded eight digs in the set while Foley and Kimm combined for 11 kills with six and five respectively. The Huskies were outhit .375 to .211 and outblocked 5.0 to zero in the frame, dropping the set 25-23.

Kimm took over in the second set, terminating six of her seven swings while adding four digs as the Huskies offense found their footing. Foley led the defense with seven digs and added a solo block, helping to force Michigan Tech into seven attacking errors with just 10 kills. SCSU took the set 25-16 to even the match.

St. Cloud State's offense roared into full gear in the third, hitting .406 with 17 kills – 16 of which were assisted by Berran. Zimmerman hammered down an incredible eight kills on 10 swings, hitting .800 in the set with one block. The Huskies recorded three stuff blocks as a team with Kimm producing two of her own in a 25-17 set win.

Foley put away five kills on .400 hitting while Bruskiewicz and Kimm each hit .400 or better with three kills as SCSU took the decisive fourth set 25-21. Berran handed out another 14 assists, Zimmerman posted two blocks and Kurschner led the club with five digs in the set.

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Chad Braegelmann

"We play Michigan Tech just about every year over the last six or seven years, and they challenge the heck out of us every time. The team on the other side of the court served tough, they defended really well, I thought their outsides were fantastic and attacked our right-front blockers hands a bunch. Tip of the cap to them in that first set, they played amazing and put all the pressure on us."

On Shelby Kimm's incredible night… "Wow. She was fantastic. Low-error, scored points down the line, deep across the court, tooled off the block a bunch. It was a fantastic match for her, she did a fantastic job out there. 17 kills and hitting .500? I'll take that out of my outsides every day of the year. It was a nice match for Shelby."

On his libero's strong performance… "Keely Kurschner did a really nice job. You expect so much out of her sometimes as an upperclassmen, you get five digs a set – she's been aggressive out there, so much more comfortable than she was even a year ago. It's been fun to watch her grow. She's super consistent and you know what you're going to get out of her every match."

On adjustments made after the first set… "The big part is we limited errors. After 12 or 13 errors in the first set, we cleaned things up. In the second, third and fourth sets we were just much cleaner. We made them earn points, we defended way better."

"Sam had a tremendous match tonight too – 13 kills, she hit over .400 – if we can continue to score from the middle and both pins, it's going to be hard to stop us. We've got to defend, we've got to make sure we play great defense. Central Washington is athletic as heck, they block, we have to move our shots around and can't just be low into the blockers hands."

QUOTABLES – St. Cloud State freshman outside hitter Shelby Kimm

On her career night… "Sometimes I'd be yelling 'four, four, four' – my route – like I was expecting the ball to come to me, and I knew that even if I wasn't getting the ball I'd be helping my teammates out by drawing the blockers to me. Being loud, feeding into my team's energy and helping to bring up their energy helped me to stay consistent."

On what it took to bounce back after the first set… "It took more energy. If we get down and they get a few points in a row, we need to bring back our energy. Focusing on coming back strong and not letting anything that happened in the first set affect us in the second."

On the Huskies' 7-0 start… "It's been a lot of fun. Playing with St. Cloud State has been so awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better start to my first year – we have a lot of season left ahead, but it's been really fun."

NOTABLES

Shelby Kimm produced her first collegiate double-double with a career-high 17 kills and 14 digs, adding a career best three blocks while hitting .500 with just two attacking errors
Sam Zimmerman matched her career best of 13 kills on .458 hitting, adding four blocks
Kenzie Foley double-doubled for the fourth time in her last five matches, producing 16 kills and 14 digs with two blocks and an ace
Emma Berran produced a season-best 58 assists with six digs, three blocks and two aces while recording a .464 assist percentage
Keely Kurschner led all players with 20 digs while adding two assists
Abby Wachal terminated nine kills with six digs, a block and a career-high four aces
Annika Forbes aced Tech a career-high three times
Hannah Bruskiewicz put away seven kills with two blocks
The Huskies' 10 aces established a new season high
SCSU outkilled Michigan Tech 62 to 46 and outhit them .293 to .186
Through their first seven matches, the Huskies have held their opponents to hit no better than .186 in a single match

UP NEXT
The Huskies look ahead to No. 23 Central Washington in their weekend finale on Saturday at Romano Gymnasium with a noon CT start. The match will be broadcast on the NSIC Network 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.