St. Cloud State Volleyball needed a pair of wins this past weekend in order to keep themselves in the hunt for a playoff berth.

 

The Huskies responded with authority, taking down U-Mary and Minot State in 5 and 3 sets respectively.

 

Against U-Mary, the Huskies leaned on great performances by Abby Templin (14 kills/3 blocks/.344), Becca Gruber (12 kills/5 blocks), and Clara Krenz (33 digs) to win a 5 set thriller. Freshman Erin Navratil played a key role off the bench in the last two sets, hitting .455 with 5 kills and zero errors. The Marauders were paced by Lauren Randall’s 21 kills and 18 digs. SCSU outhit U-Mary .176 to .152 and led on the block 12-5.

 

SCSU obliterated Minot State in straight sets on Saturday, led by fantastic Middle play. Micah Nier (12 kills/.688) and Marah Mulso (7 kills/.313) dominated the middle block of the Beavers, deftly finding holes in the defense. The Maddy Torve (21 assists/2 kills/3 digs)/Krista Kuglin (8 kills/.389) rotation side of the Huskies’ 6-2 played very well throughout the match. Freshman Erin Navratil was fantastic in her 3rd career start, recording 9 kills on .412 hitting, 5 digs and an ace. The Huskies outhit Minot State .374 to .074 and notched 28 more kills than the Beavers.

 

The Huskies are now 14-9 on the year, 6-7 in conference play, good for 10th in the conference. KVSC’s Thomas Breach and Will Heyer will discuss the postseason push on this week’s edition of Scouting SCSU Volleyball on the KVSC Sports Podcast Page this Tuesday.