No. 2 St. Cloud State Volleyball Advances to NCAA Central Region Championship After Beating No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul in Four

Friday, December 6

St. Cloud, Minn.

7 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

29-2,18-0NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

24-7,16-2NSIC

Concordia-St. Paul

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Jason Soria

No. 2 St. Cloud State Volleyball Advances to NCAA Central Region Championship After Beating No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul in Four

12/7/2024 1:16:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score Press Conference

Top-seeded Huskies will play No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma on Saturday

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Top-seeded St. Cloud State Volleyball (29-2, 18-0 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) advanced to the NCAA Central Region Championship match after taking down No. 4 seed Concordia-St. Paul in four sets (23-25, 25-15, 25-16 and 25-20) on Friday evening at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud.

The Huskies led CSP (24-7, 17-2 NSIC) in points (70-61), kills (56-50), hitting percentage (.325 – .180), aces (6-4), blocks (8-7), assists (53-48) and digs (59-52).

The Huskies collected their 25^th straight win and tied the program record for most wins in a single NCAA Tournament, with two, reaching the Central Region Championship for the second time in three years.

TOP HUSKIES

Fifth year outside hitter Kenzie Foley (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) – 14-kill, 12-dig double-double with three block assists.
Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Bruskiewicz (Rogers, Minn.) – 16 kills on .519 hitting and a match-high four block assists.
Junior setter Emma Berran (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) – 47 assists and eight digs.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Ella Thompson (Lakeville, Minn.) – 13 kills on .524 hitting and match-high four block assists.
Senior libero Keely Kurschner (Maplewood, Minn.) – team-high 12 digs and five assists.
Sophomore outside hitter/opposite Shelby Kimm (North Liberty, Iowa) – nine digs and eight kills.
Sophomore defensive specialist Annika Forbes (Cottage Grove, Minn.) – match-high five service aces.
Junior defensive specialist Emily Kern (Belgrade, Minn.) – 10 digs.

PRESS CONFERENCE

NOTABLES

SCSU moves to 6-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and tied the program record for most wins in a single NCAA Tournament, with two.
The Huskies advanced to the Central Region Championship for the second time in three years.
The Huskies move to 8-34 all-time against CSP. SCSU took down the Golden Bears an unprecedented four times this season and avenged its two NCAA Tournament losses (2022 and 2021) with its first NCAA Tournament win over CSP.
St. Cloud State lost its only match against Central Oklahoma when the teams played in St. Cloud in 2000.
SCSU improved to 15-0 at home this year. The Huskies are 59-7 (.894) at Halenbeck Hall in its last 66 home matches and have won 20 straight home matches, dating back to Oct. 20, 2023.
SCSU has won 25 straight matches including 13 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. 9 Concordia-St. Paul, 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 25 matches in a row. The previous longest streak of 17, was set in 2021.
For the first time since Sept. 21, the Huskies have had three matches in a row go longer than three sets.
Thompson and Bruskiewicz were the first duo this season with at least 12 kills apiece to hit .500 or better. They are each responsible for two of the four .500+ hitting performances this season (minimum of 12 kills).
Foley was second in the match in kills and tied for the team lead in digs. It was her 19^th double-double of the season (fourth straight). She surpassed 2,000 career kills, becoming the first Husky and just the fourth player in NSIC history to do so.
Bruskiewicz led the match in kills and tied for the match high in block assists.
Berran tied for the match lead in assists and was fifth on the team in digs.
Thompson was one of three Huskies to send down double-digit kills.
Kurschner tied for the team lead in digs.
Kimm was fourth on the team in kills and digs.
Forbes posted a new career high in service aces (five) and lead the match.
Kern was one of three Huskies to tally double-digit digs.

UP NEXT
With the win, the Huskies advanced to the NCAA Tournament Central Region Championship Match (Sweet 16) on Saturday. The Huskies will play No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma at 4 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall with a chance to advance to the Elite 8 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. 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.