KEARNEY, Neb. – The No. 5 seeded Griffon Volleyball team (21-8, 13-3 MIAA) fought till the end but came up short against No. 4 seed St. Cloud State (27-6, 18-2 NSIC), falling 3–1 on Thursday, December 4 at the Health and Sports Center in round one of the NCAA Central Region Tournament.

St. Cloud State claimed the match 3–1, edging out MoWest in a tight first set 25–21, then taking control in set two 25–11. The Griffons answered with a hard-fought win in a close third set 27–25, pushing the match deeper, but the Huskies sealed the night by winning another close battle in set four 25–21.

In set one, the frame sat tied at 6–6 before St. Cloud opened a small gap to go up 13–9. MWSU answered with five straight points to flip the lead at 14–13. From there, both teams traded points much like the start of the set, pulling even again at 18–18 and later at 21–21. In the closing moments, however, the Huskies secured the final four points to take the opening set 25–21.

It was all Huskies to open the second set, as they built a 9–3 run out of the gate. MWSU trimmed the margin to four at 11–7, but St. Cloud held control the rest of the way, taking the set by a 25–11 score.

In the third set, the Griffons trailed 10-8 before the Huskies strung together a four-point run to go up 14-8. St. Cloud later stretched the margin to 20-12, but MoWest answered with six straight points to pull within two at 20-18. The Huskies moved ahead 23-20, yet the Griffons once again punched back with three straight points to even the set at 23-23. After fighting off set point twice and tying it again at 25-25, the Griffons closed out the frame in extra points, securing the third set 27-25 on a service ace from Anna Weberg.

In set four, St. Cloud opened on a 7–1 run. MWSU responded and trimmed the deficit to two at 11–9 in the Huskies' favor. St. Cloud pushed the lead to 17–11, but MWSU answered with a 5–1 run to make it 18–16. The teams traded points from there, with the score sitting at 21–20 SCSU. In the end, the Griffons could not find the late push they needed and dropped the set by a final of 25–21.

The Griffons were paced at the net by Taylor Russell's 14 kills, followed by Holly Heldt with 10 and Trista Marx with 7. At the service line, Weberg led the way with 3 aces. Defensively at the net, Emma Salker posted a team-high 6 blocks, with Marx adding 2 and Russell contributing 2 of her own. In the setting unit, Hayley Barsky guided the offense with 23 assists, while Katelyn Diani-O'Day added 15 and Lia Graham finished with 4. On the defensive end, Weberg again topped the charts with 16 digs, followed by Heldt with 12 and Graham with 10.