Sam Thiel/Winonan

The Winona State volleyball team set the team record for consecutive wins, notching its 13th victory in a row by defeating Bemidji State 3-0 Friday in McCown Gymnasium.

The team shattered the previous record that was set in 1987. The victory marked the third win streak of ten or more matches in school history.

The Warriors are now 14-2 overall on the season and 6-0 in NSIC play. They are the only undefeated team in conference play this year.

Winona State began the match with a dominating 25-18 win in the first set, and followed up with a 25-20 win in the second set.

The Warriors finished up the sweep and broke the school record with a 25-23 victory in the third set.

On the offensive side, WSU hit .343 for the match, including .378 in the final set.     Bekah Saugen recorded yet another double-double, putting in 12 kills and 16 digs. Saugen also had a hitting percentage of .333 throughout the match.

Junior Katie Froehle played strong on the offensive end also, hitting .370 and had 13 kills.

The WSU offense showed their depth with all three of their setters, with each recording double-digit assists.

Elena Kruesel led the trio with 18 assists while Kayla Uhlenhake recorded 16 and Kaley Jacobson added 11.

On the defensive end, Maggie Finkel chipped in with ten digs for the Warriors.    “Our offense has been pretty consistent thus far which makes it easier for us setters to maintain a more even distribution along the net,” junior Kaley Jacobson said.

“Establishing our middle attack early in the match is critical in order to open up our pin hitters. People are learning their roles at the net and capitalizing when they get their chance. All in all, things are just clicking for us as a team.”

The Winona State volleyball team continued its school-record win streak with its 14th victory after beating the Minnesota, Crookston Golden Eagles 3-0 Saturday in McCown Gymnasium in Winona.

Bekah Saugen had her seventh match in a row with double-digit kills, recording a team-high 12 and hit .219 in the victory.

Saugen also had 16 digs as the Warriors advanced to 15-2 overall on the season and 7-0 in NSIC play.

The Warriors began the first set with a demanding 20-10 lead before holding on to win 25-20.

WSU blew away the Golden Eagles in the second set, winning 25-17 before ending the match with a 25-23 victory in the third.

Kate Horihan recorded eight kills for Winona State and led the team on the defensive end with four solo blocks and five blocks total.

Katie Froehle had nine kills and ten digs while Laura Zeamer added eight.

Elena Kruesel led the team in the sharing department, dishing out 16 assists while Kayla Uhlenhake cashed in 12.

Defensively Maggie Finkel anchored the Warriors with 21 digs.

“The whole key to offensive performance begins with serve receive passing that allows us to be in-system with our offense. We rate our passes on a 0-3 scale and when we are consistently passing 2’s and 3’s it allows us to be in-system,” said coach Dave Simon. “This allows our setters the ability to have multiple options rather than being forced to make certain sets. When our offense is going well we are balanced in our attack with multiple players getting several kills. This weekend we hit near or over .300 in four of the six sets played. So the key to offensive success this weekend was solid serve reserve passing which allowed us to be in-system with our offense. This allowed our setters multiple options and they made very good setting decisions which allowed us to have a balanced attack. That is the formula for success for the Warriors.”

The Warrior’s 7-0 record conference record leads the league. WSU is the only NSIC squad without a loss in NSIC play.
Winona State will hit the road this weekend to face Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.

Contact Sam at [email protected]