UNK Volleyball Season Comes To An End Falling To St Cloud State
Kearney, Neb. – The fifth-ranked St. Cloud State Huskies had four players reach double figures in kills and registered eight team blocks to beat second-ranked Nebraska Kearney in four sets (-12, -19, 25-27, -19) Friday night at the NCAA Tournament in Kearney.
The Huskies, the fourth seed in the Central Regional, reach the "Sweet 16" for the third time in four years and will face sixth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (28-5) in Saturday's finals. The second seeded Golden Bears swept seventh-ranked Washburn in today's early match.
UNK (30-4) was hoping to reach the Central Regional finals for the first time in six years but couldn't contain a potent Husky attack. Defensively, St. Cloud was strong as well as they limited the Lopers to a .199 efficiency and dug up 10 more balls.
"Credit to St. Cloud State. They played an amazing match and are a heck of a team. We couldn't solve all the weapons they had. We probably were kind of back on our heels in the serve and pass (game) for a good stretch of the match and struggled in our two-hitter rotations," said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "But proud of our team for battling. I thought at no point did we give in and at no point did we stop competing."
Redshirt senior middle Ella Thompson led the way (15 kills, five blocks, .412 pct.) with graduate outside Sam Zimmerman (16 kills, five digs, .342 pct.) and senior middle Emile Planert (11 kills, three blocks, .625 pct.) causing headaches as well. SCSU hit .340 overall, the highest attack percentage by a Loper foe all fall.
The match featured 27 ties and 15 lead changes, but Cloud controlled much of the first two sets, the same as Oklahoma Baptist did Friday night. The Huskies closed set one on a 20-6 run and then broke a 10-10 in the second with a 15-9 spurt. UNK gave the home folk something to cheer for in the fourth as they hit .309 (20-3-55) to seemingly open a comfortable 24-19 lead. However, the Huskies tied things at 24 and then 25 before the Lopers finally closed things out.
SCSU quickly regained the momentum by jumping out to a 6-3 lead in the fourth and never looked back. Three straight kills from sophomore right side Brynn Stowell (Olathe, Kan.) did make it 24-19 but a kill by Planert ended the match.
"We went out and got the third set, and it looked like we'd be able to carry some of that (momentum) into the fourth as we got off to an early decent start. But gave up a four or five point run and that was kind of hard to play up hill from there," said Squiers. "It's always disappointing (to lose in the NCAA's) and a lot of people in this region have to deal with that; you have a Top 5 matchup in the second round. But this doesn't change the fact that we had an amazing season."
In addition to the previously mentioned Huskies junior right-side Shelby Kimm had 11 kills and eight digs, sophomore setter Braya LaPlant was at 48 assists, six kills in nine swings (.667 pct.) and four blocks with sophomore libero Laurin Hamann at 23 digs.
For UNK, North Platte graduate outside Carly Purdy had 19 kills and hit .356 with Stowell (12) and Kansas senior outside Emilee Lane (13) have a combined 25 kills. Next, Kansas sophomore DS Rhyan Mock provided 14 digs and was 19 of 20 in serve receive with Kansas senior middle Abby Rose having two of UNK's four aces. Finally, North Platte graduate setter Peyton Neff had 40 assists, 11 digs and four kills in her final collegiate match.
"For this group to be 30-4, get a share of the conference championship, and win the league tournament after replacing all of our backcourt people from a year ago…it's a credit to our entire team and the seniors," said Sqiuers. "Peyton has had one of the most amazing careers in Loper Volleyball history. I've been here for a long time (27 years) and you'd be hard pressed to find somebody who has done all the things she has done. She's on pace to be an All-American again and will go down as one of the most decorated players to ever wear a Loper uniform. She did it right and we couldn't be prouder of her."
UNK begins spring ball in March 2026 with St. Cloud and Concordia-St. Paul set to play Saturday at 5 p.m. for the right to go to Sioux Falls next weekend.