No. 5 St. Cloud State Volleyball Set for First Full Road Conference Weekend

Friday, October 11

Elmen Center • Sioux Falls, S.D.

5 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

Augustana

Photo by: Jonathan Rozko

No. 5 St. Cloud State Volleyball Set for First Full Road Conference Weekend

10/10/2024 4:29:00 PM | Volleyball

Huskies look to continue eight match winning streak and unbeaten start to NSIC play, travel to Augustana, Wayne State

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 5 St. Cloud State Volleyball (12-2, 6-0 NSIC) will play its first full weekend of road conference matches of the season this weekend, traveling to play Augustana (9-7, 5-2 NSIC) and No. 6 Wayne State (13-2, 7-0 NSIC). The Huskies will play Augie on Friday with first serve scheduled for 5 p.m. CT from the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. and WSC on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Neb.

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
@ Augustana (Elmen Center – Sioux Falls, S.D.) – Friday, Oct. 10 / 5 p.m. CT / Livestream / Live Stats
@ No. 6 Wayne State (Rice Auditorium – Wayne, Neb.) – Saturday, Oct. 11 / 1 p.m. CT / Livestream / Live Stats

Links to each coverage option can also be found on the St. Cloud State Volleyball schedule page.

LET'S GO POLLING
SCSU moved back into the top 5 (No. 5) in this week's AVCA Poll for the first time since Sept. 4, 2023, after going 3-0 last week, sweeping No. 15 Minnesota Duluth and No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State. The only times the Huskies have been ranked No. 5 or better was in Week One of 1996 (No. 3), Week Four and Five of 2022 (No. 4) and Week Two of 1988, the final rankings of 2022 and Week One of 2023 (No. 5).

Under the direction of head coach Chad Braegelmann, the program has been ranked for 60 consecutive weeks (including 36 weeks in the top 10), dating back to the 2019 season. The Huskies have spent a total of 134 weeks in the AVCA top 20/25 Poll in program history, including 61 weeks in the top 10.

SERIES HISTORY
St. Cloud State Volleyball is 29-50 all-time against Augustana, however the Huskies are 7-3 in the last 10 matchups including a current six match winning streak. SCSU took down the Vikings 3-0 in St. Cloud and 3-1 in Sioux Falls in 2023.

The Huskies are 14-22 all time against Wayne State. St. Cloud State is 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. Last season, SCSU fell to Wayne State twice in regular season play but beat the No. 1 Wildcats on their home floor in the NSIC Tournament Semifinals 3-2 in a five-set thriller to advance to its fourth straight tournament championship match – it was the program's first ever win over a No. 1 ranked team.

EIGHT IN A ROW
SCSU has won eight straight matches including wins over No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State (sweep), No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul (sweep), No. 15 Minnesota Duluth (sweep), No. 20 Michigan Tech and (RV) Minnesota State. It is the first time the Huskies have won at least eight matches in a row since 2022, when SCSU strung together win streaks of nine and 12 matches. All five of SCSU's sweeps this season have come during the eight-match win streak.

HISTORIC START TO CONFERENCE PLAY
The Huskies are off to their best conference start under head coach Chad Braegelmann (6-0), which also marks the best start in NSIC history. The last time the Huskies started 6-0 or better in conference play, were when they went 7-0 in 1985 (North Central Conference – NCC) and 1982 (Northern Sun Conference – NSC).

AVCA WEEKLY AWARDS
Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II National Player of the Week by the organization on Tuesday. It is her first National Player of the Week honor of the year and the third of her career. The 2023 DII AVCA National Player of the Year is one of just four Huskies be named AVCA DII National Player of the Week in program history and is the only player to be honored more than once in her career.

As of October 7, Foley ranks No. 5 in kills/set (4.76), No. 5 in points/set (5.35) and No. 7 in total kills (243) among all Division II players. She also leads the NSIC in kills/set, points/set, total attacks (532) and total kills and is No. 2 in attacks/set (10.43), No. 15 in digs (171) and No. 16 in digs/set (3.35).

St. Cloud State players who have been the AVCA Division II National Player of the Week:
Kristi Kutter (Oct. 4, 1993)
Swen Minnema (Oct. 9, 1995)
Cami Selbitschka (Sept. 2, 1996)
Kenzie Foley (Sept. 11, 2022)
Kenzie Foley (Nov. 13, 2022)
Kenzie Foley (Oct. 8, 2024)

NSIC WEEKLY AWARDS
Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) and redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.) were named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Players of the Week, the league announced on Monday. Foley was named the Offensive Player of the Week, while Thompson was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Week.

Foley has earned conference honors 10 times in her career and three times this season (Sept. 9, 2024 | Sept. 16, 2024 | Oct. 7, 2024) while Thompson earned NSIC honors for the first time in her career and conference honors for the second time after being named Summit League Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 15, 2022, while playing for South Dakota State.

Foley led the NSIC in kills/set (5.20), kills (52), points/set (5.90) and points (59.0). She also contributed 2.90 digs/set and 0.80 blocks/set. In Saturday's win over USF, the fifth year outside hitter posted a 25-kill, 13-dig double-double (10th of 2024 / 69th of her career) and tied her career-high with six block assists. Earlier in the week, during Tuesday's nonconference sweep of UMD, she recorded a match-high 18 kills to go along with eight digs.

Thompson led the NSIC in total blocks (16), tied for the lead in block assists (14), tied for fourth in solo blocks (2) and was fifth in blocks/set (1.60). The redshirt junior middle blocker also ranked second in kills (42), points/set (5.10) and points (51.0) while ranking third in kills/set (4.20) and 10th in hitting % (.413) amongst NSIC players. Thompson posted the most kills (20) and points (24.0) of any player in a 3-set match in the NSIC and the second most overall in all matches. Her 24.0 points were a new personal best, and her 20 kills tied her career best mark from earlier this season. In Saturday's sweep of No. 4 SMSU, she totaled a match-high 20 kills (.486 hitting) and six block assists while scoring a career-high 24.0 points and in Friday's win over USF she tallied 17 kills (.483 hitting) and a season-high six block assists.

NCAA / NSIC STATISTICAL RANKINGS

Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.)
- NCAA
  - No. 16 – assists/set (11.14)
  - No. 35 – assists (568)
- NSIC
  - No. 4 – assists/set (11.14)
  - No. 4 – assists (568)

Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.)
- NSIC
  - No. 7 – hitting % (.350)
  - No. 19 – blocks/set (0.82)
  - No. 20 – blocks (42)

Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa)
- NCAA
  - No. 5 – kills/set (4.76)
  - No. 5 – points/set (5.35)
  - No. 8 – kills (243)
  - No. 40 – attacks/set (10.43)
- NSIC
  - No. 1 – kills/set (4.76)
  - No. 1 – kills (243)
  - No. 1 – points/set (5.35)
  - No. 2 – attacks/set (10.43)
  - No. 4 – attacks (532)
  - No. 16 – digs/set (3.35)
  - No. 19 – digs (171)
  - No. 22 – hitting % (.271)

Senior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.)
- NSIC
  - No. 8 – digs/set (4.29)
  - No. 9 – digs (219)
  - No. 10 – aces/set (0.39)

Redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.)
- NCAA
  - No. 15 – hitting % (.411)
- NSIC
  - No. 2 – hitting % (.411)
  - No. 3 – kills/set (3.49)
  - No. 3 – points/set (3.92)
  - No. 7 – kills (178)
  - No. 23 – blocks (38)

PROGRAM LEADERBOARD STANDINGS / ACHIEVEMENTS

Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.)
- No. 5 in career assists (677 more until No. 4)
- 16 more digs until 500 for her career
- 21 more aces until 100 for her career

Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.)
- 21 points until 500 for her career
- 101 kills until 500 for her career

Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa)
- No. 1 in career kills – broke Linsey Rachel's record that was set in 2022
- No. 1 in career points – passed SCSU Hall of Famer and volleyball legend, Kathy Davis, who had held the record for 36 years
- No. 2 in career double-digit kill matches (1 more until No. 1)
- No. 2 in career double-doubles (5 more until No. 1)
- No. 3 in career attacks (326 more until No. 3)
- No. 7 in career digs (82 more until No. 6)
- 56 points until 2,000 for her career
- 277 kills until 2,000 for her career
- 26 20+ kill matches in her career
- 3 30+ kill matches in her career
Senior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.)
- No. 8 in career digs (74 more until No. 7)