St. Cloud, Minn. --- The Minnesota State volleyball team (16-9, 9-8 NSIC) took to the road to face off with the #8 St. Cloud State Huskies (20-5, 12-5 NSIC), and won the match 3-2 (10-25, 25-23, 19-25, 27-25, 15-11).
In the first set the Huskies energy propelled them to an early 5-0 lead which helped them to quickly put the set out of hand, ultimately taking the set 25-10
The Mavericks wasted no time responding in the second set, building a 5-1 lead which helped them to keep the Huskies at bay until they were able to tie it up late, 21-21. Minnesota State put together back to back points after a contested kill from
Anissa Janzig and a block from
Jessica Nelson before St. Cloud State tied things back up at 23-23. The Mavericks then looked to
Morgan Olson who drilled back to back kills to take the set 25-23 and tie the match at 1-1.
The third set saw both teams trading points throughout. With the set tied 17-17 the Huskies put together an 8-2 run to take the set as well as a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set mirrored the third in the early going with massive rallies going for each team. The Mavericks maintained a small lead most of the set, but the Huskies tied things up 24-24 late. After trading a pair of points, Minnesota State put together two straight points, with the winner coming on a kill from
Nelson, to take the set 27-25 and force a fifth set.
In the fifth set, St. Cloud State built an early 5-2 lead, but the Mavericks fought back, tying things up and taking a 10-9 lead forcing a Husky timeout. Out of the timeout,
Janzig immediately blocked a shot at the net before
Nelson got a kill off a defender to force another timeout. With a 14-11 lead, the Mavericks fed the ball to
Olson who put away a monster kill in through the middle of the Husky defense, completing the upset and earning the 3-2 win.
Olson led all players with 24 kills in the match while adding seven digs and
Nelson finished with 12 kills.
Mara Quam finished the match with 28 digs while
Dana Schindler recorded 29 assists.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Mavericks will travel to Duluth, Minn., to take on the Bulldogs with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
