No. 2 St. Cloud State Volleyball Earns First NCAA Tournament Home Victory in Program History, Takes Down Ouachita Baptist in Four

Thursday, December 5

St. Cloud, Minn.

7 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

28-2,18-0NSIC

Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)

22-10,10-6GAC

Ouachita Baptist

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Nick Monaghan

No. 2 St. Cloud State Volleyball Earns First NCAA Tournament Home Victory in Program History, Takes Down Ouachita Baptist in Four

12/6/2024 12:54:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score Central Region Tournament Homepage

Top-seeded Huskies advance to NCAA Central Region to play No. 4 seed Concordia-St. Paul in team’s fourth matchup of the season

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Top-seeded St. Cloud State Volleyball (28-2, 18-0 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) beat eight-seeded Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) in four sets (25-22, 26-28, 25-17 and 25-13) on Thursday evening at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud to claim the program's first ever home NCAA Tournament win.

The Huskies led OBU (22-10, 10-6 Great American Conference) in points (85-56), kills (72-48), hitting percentage (.298 – .198), aces (7-3), blocks (6-5), assists (69-45) and digs (90-77).

With the win, the Huskies earned their fifth ever NCCA Tournament match win and first since 2022 when they advanced to the Central Region Championship.

TOP HUSKIES

Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) – 28-kill, 18-dig double-double on .356 hitting.
Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) – 58-assist, 13-dig double-double and three block assists.
Senior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.) – match-high 23 six assists.
Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.) – 16 kills on .455 hitting.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.) – 14 kills and match-high four block assists.
Sophomore outside hitter/opposite Shelby Kimm (North Liberty, Iowa) – 15 digs, seven kills and match-high three service aces.

PRESS CONFERENCE

NOTABLES

SCSU moves to 5-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament play after winning its first ever home NCAA Tournament match.
The Huskies won their first matchup against Ouachita Baptist.
St. Cloud State will play Concordia-St. Paul for the fourth time this season on Friday. The Huskies have played CSP twice in NCAA Tournament play, falling in both matchups (2021 and 2022). The two teams have met six times in postseason play (NSIC and NCAA Tournaments) since 2019 – the Golden Bears hold a 4-2 advantage in those matchups.
SCSU improved to 14-0 at home this year. The Huskies are 58-7 (.892) at Halenbeck Hall in its last 65 home matches and have won 19 straight home matches, dating back to Oct. 20, 2023.
SCSU has won 24 straight matches including 12 wins over nationally ranked teams during that stretch – No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State (sweep), No. 6 Wayne State, No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul (twice), No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul (sweep), No. 15 Minnesota Duluth (sweep), No. 18 Northern State (sweep) No. 20 Michigan Tech, No. 22 Northern State (sweep), No. 24 Minnesota Duluth (sweep), (RV) Minnesota State (sweep) and (RV) Minnesota State.
It is the first time SCSU has ever won 24 matches in a row. The previous longest streak of 17, was set in 2021.
For the first time since Sept. 21, the Huskies had back-to-back matches go more than three sets.
Foley led the match in kills and was for second in digs. It was her 18^th double-double of the season (third consecutive).
Berran dished out a match-high 58 assists and was one of four Huskies to record double-digit digs. It was her fifth double-double of the season and first since Oct. 4.
Kurschner tallied a match-high 23 digs, tying her single match career high mark.
Bruskiewicz sent down the second most kills in the match and hit an extremely efficient .455.
Thompson led the match in block assists and was third in the match in kills.
Kimm was one of four Huskies to tally 13+ digs. She also ranked top-four in kills on the team and led the match in aces.

UP NEXT
With the win, the Huskies advanced to the NCAA Tournament Central Region Semifinals (Round of 32) on Friday. The Huskies will play No. 4 seed Concordia-St. Paul at 7 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall. Live coverage will be available on the NSIC Network and live stats will be provided by SCSU. Links to each coverage option will be available on the SCSU Volleyball Schedule Page. In addition, you can find everything on the Central Region Tournament website.

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