By Luke Paider / Sports reporter / St. Cloud, Minn.

Five different Huskies accounted for five or more kills on Friday night against the Minot State Beavers, leading St. Cloud State to the 3-0 victory. Sam Zimmerman nearly doubled her season total for kills, adding five to the seven she had previously. Middle blocker Ella Thompson and Outside hitter Shelby Kimm, of course, had their fingerprints all over this game. Thompson finished with seven kills with .455 hitting, while Kimm posted eight kills and 11 digs.

St. Cloud got off to a fast start, winning the first set 25-12.The beginning of the second set saw the most dominant stretch of the game for the Huskies. Jumping out to a 16-4 advantage behind some excellent setting done by Emma Berran, who checked in for Braya LaPlant between sets. LaPant played the first and third sets, finishing with 25 assists. Berran, meanwhile, only played the second, dishing out 12 assists during the match. Yet it was Emery Thury who was the most impressive Husky in the second set. Putting up six kills on .857 hitting in the second. Head Coach Chad Braegelman praised her underrated vision on the blockers after the match.

The Beavers battled to drop the set 25-16 and carried the momentum into the third set, holding the Huskies to a stalemate early in the third set, deadlocked at 8-8. The Husky offense was simply too potent in the end, and so were the unforced errors made by Minot, leading to a 25-20 third-set win for St. Cloud. Minot finished with nine service errors, which repeatedly killed momentum when they attempted to make runs. Coach Braegelman’s squad fared even worse in the serving department, putting up 11 service errors. The Huskies were able to better balance these mistakes with seven service aces compared to the Beavers’ mere two.

St. Cloud State will be back in action Saturday against the University of Mary.

Photo credit: Nathaly Delgado.