No. 3 St. Cloud State Volleyball Set for Pair of Road Matches

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 3 St. Cloud State Volleyball (17-2, 11-0 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) will hit the road for back-to-back conference contests this weekend when the Huskies face No. 22 Northern State (14-4, 6-4 NSIC) on Friday and MSU Moorhead (8-10, 3-7 NSIC) on Saturday. First serve for Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Wachs Arena in Aberdeen S.D. and Saturday's tilt will start at 3:30 p.m. from Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead.

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
@ #22 Northern State (Wachs Arena – Aberdeen S.D.) – Friday, Oct. 25 / 6 p.m. CT / Livestream / Live Stats

@ MSU Moorhead (Nemzek Fieldhouse – Moorhead, Minn.) – Saturday, Oct. 26 / 3:30 p.m. CT / Livestream / Live Stats

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

SERIES HISTORY
St. Cloud State Volleyball is 13-23 all-time against Northern State. The Huskies have won the last five matchups after snapping a 12-match skid against NSU that lasted from 2012-2019. SCSU is 4-8 when playing the Wolves at Wachs Arena.

The Huskies are 44-23 all-time against MSU Moorhead including 8-2 in the last 10 matches. SCSU has won the last six matches against the Dragons, but have a 6-8 record when playing them at Nemzek Fieldhouse.

LET'S GO POLLING
In the October 21 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Poll, St. Cloud State was ranked No. 3, matching the program's highest ever national ranking. It is only the second time that the Huskies have been ranked in the top-3 and the first time during the tenure of head coach Chad Braegelmann.

List of St. Cloud State Volleyball Top-3 National Rankings
#3 – Week One of 1996
#3 – Week Seven of 2024

Under the direction of Braegelmann, the program has been ranked for 62 consecutive weeks (including 38 weeks in the top 10), dating back to the 2019 season. The Huskies have spent a total of 136 weeks in the AVCA top 20/25 Poll in program history, including 63 weeks in the top 10.

In the most recent AVCA Poll, six NSIC schools and nine teams from the Central Region were ranked in the Top 25/Receiving Votes.

Oct. 21 AVCA Top-25 National Rankings (overall record)
#3 St. Cloud State* (16-2)
#6 Nebraska Kearney^ (20-1)
#7 Wayne State* (16-3)
#10 Central Oklahoma^ (20-1)
#11 Concordia St. Paul* (14-4)
#12 Southwest Minnesota State* (17-3)
#22 Northern State* (13-4)
#24 Missouri Western^ (14-4)
#25 Minnesota Duluth* (10-8)

*NSIC Team
^Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Team

13 IN A ROW
SCSU has won 13 straight matches including seven wins over nationally ranked teams – No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State (sweep), No. 6 Wayne State, No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul (sweep), No. 15 Minnesota Duluth (sweep), No. 20 Michigan Tech, No. 24 Minnesota Duluth (sweep) and (RV) Minnesota State. It is the first time SCSU has won 13 matches in a row since 2021. All nine of SCSU's sweeps this season have come during the last 11 matches.

HISTORIC START TO CONFERENCE PLAY
St. Cloud State is off to its best conference in program history (11-0). The previous record was set in 1982 (Northern Sun Conference – NSC) and tied in 1985 (North Central Conference – NCC) when both teams finished their respective conference season with a perfect 7-0 record.

NSIC WEEKLY AWARDS
Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Offensive Player of the Week by the league office on Oct. 21.

Foley has earned conference player of the week honors 12 times in her career and five times this season (including three in a row) (Sept. 9 | Sept. 16 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 14 | Oct. 21). She was also named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II National Player of the Week on Oct. 8 for the first time of the season and the third time in her career.

In Thursday's road sweep of No. 24 UMD, Foley posted a 17-kill, 12 dig double-double, while hitting .367 hitting. She recorded a match-high 15 kills on .462 hitting in Saturday's home sweep of Bemidji State.

After playing in three sets on Saturday, the Sergeant Bluff, Iowa native moved onto the program's top-10 list for all-time sets played, ending the night in sole possession of No. 8 on that list with 408 sets played in her career.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.) was tabbed as the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 7 after leading 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). She 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.

Thompson 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 the Oct. 5 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.

NSIC SPOTLIGHT
Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) was featured on sixth episode of the 2024-25 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Spotlight series – the voice of the NSIC Student-Athletes – which was released on Oct. 16.

To watch the interview on YouTube, click here.

AVCA WEEKLY AWARD
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 Oct. 8. It was 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 14, Foley ranks No. 5 in kills/set (4.90), No. 5 in points/set (5.49) and No. 5 in total kills (289) among all Division II players. She also leads the NSIC in kills/set, points/set, total attacks (624), total kills and attacks/set (10.58), No. 17 in digs/set (3.24), No. 17 in hitting percentage (.280) and No. 18 in digs (191).

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)

NCAA (Top-50) / NSIC (Top-25) STATISTICAL RANKINGS
(as of 10/23)

Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.)
- NCAA
  - No. 13 – assists/set (11.22)
  - No. 27 – assists (763)
- NSIC
  - No. 3 – assists/set (11.22)
  - No. 4 – assists (721)

Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.)
- NSIC
  - No. 6 – hitting % (.349)
  - No. 17 – blocks (56)
  - No. 18 – blocks/set (0.82)
  - No. 18 – kills (185)
  - No. 22 – kills/set (2.72)
  - No. 25 – points/set (3.21)

Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa)
- NCAA
  - No. 5 – kills/set (5.00)
  - No. 5 – points/set (5.57)
  - No. 5 – kills (340)
  - No. 43 – attacks/set (10.44)
- NSIC
  - No. 1 – kills/set (5.00)
  - No. 1 – kills (340)
  - No. 1 – points/set (5.57)
  - No. 1 – attacks/set (10.44)
  - No. 2 – attacks (710)
  - No. 14 – hitting % (.299)
  - No. 19 – digs (212)
  - No. 20 – digs/set (3.12)

Sophomore outside hitter Shelby Kimm (North Liberty, Iowa)
- NSIC
  - No. 4 – aces/set (0.44)
  - No. 8 – aces (26)

Senior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.)
- NSIC
  - No. 1 – aces (32)
  - No. 3 – aces/set (0.47)
  - No. 8 – digs (284)
  - No. 10 – digs/set (4.18)

Redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.)
- NCAA
  - No. 28 – hitting % (.372)
- NSIC
  - No. 4 – hitting % (.372)
  - No. 6 – kills/set (3.15)
  - No. 7 – kills (214)
  - No. 9 – points/set (3.57)
  - No. 23 – blocks (49)

PROGRAM LEADERBOARD STANDINGS
(as of 10/23)

Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.)
- No. 5 in career assists (482 more until No. 4)

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. 1 in career double-digit kill matches – broke Linsey Rachel's record that was set in 2022
- No. 1 in single-match kills – broke a tie with Cami Selbitschka (1996)
- No. 2 in career double-doubles (3 more until No. 1)
- No. 3 in career attacks (149 more until No. 3)
- No. 7 in career digs (41 more until No. 6)
- T-No. 7 in career sets played (1 more until No. 7)
- Surpassed 2,000 career points
- 27 20+ kill matches in her career
- 4 30+ kill matches in her career