SEWARD, Neb. – For a sixth-straight year, Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball has reached the GPAC tournament semifinals. The Bulldogs cruised past Dakota Wesleyan in the quarterfinals this past weekend and will welcome No. 22 Midland to Friedrich Arena for the semifinals on Wednesday. Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad has moved to 23-2 overall while in pursuit of the program’s first-ever GPAC postseason championship. The Concordia-Midland winner will play in the title match on Saturday against the Northwestern-Hastings winner.
GPAC Tournament
Semifinals – Wednesday, Nov. 13 vs. No. 22 Midland (17-10, 12-4 GPAC), 7 p.m.
--Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Friedrich Arena (Seward, Neb.)
--Admission: $10 for adults/senior citizens, $3 for K-12; only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s are admitted free of charge.
--Fan theme: whiteout
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 16 vs. Northwestern / Hastings, time TBA (if win on Wednesday)
By the numbers
· The quarterfinals of the 2024 GPAC tournament went mostly chalk, with the exception of a minor upset in Sioux City, Iowa, where fifth-seeded Hastings defeated fourth-seeded Morningside in four sets. Elsewhere, top-ranked Northwestern held serve in four sets over eight seed College of Saint Mary, No. 2 Concordia took care of seventh-seeded Dakota Wesleyan in straight sets and third-seeded Midland wiped out six seed Dordt in three. In top attacking performances from the opening round, Hastings’ Majesta Valasek put away 20 kills on .465 hitting and Northwestern’s Jazlin Douma posted 18 kills on .385 hitting.
· The Bulldogs have won six-straight GPAC quarterfinal matches dating back to the 2019 season. The latest one came by a score of 25-23, 25-13, 25-19, over Dakota Wesleyan. Concordia owned advantages of .225 to .126 in hitting percentage, 49-33 in kills and 77-64 in digs. Kya Scott and Ella Waters recorded a match high 10 kills apiece and Ashley Keck (29 digs) and Becca Gebhardt (19 digs) cleaned up in the back row. The Bulldogs were especially dominant in the second set when they hit .333 and landed 17 kills. DWU (13-16 final record) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set before Concordia rallied back and regained control.
· Entering this year’s postseason, the Bulldogs had reached at least the semifinal round of the GPAC tournament in five straight seasons. That stretch includes GPAC tournament runner up claims in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In each of those GPAC tournament finals, Concordia went on the road (defeated by Jamestown in 2021 and 2022 and by Northwestern in 2023). Additionally, the Bulldogs have qualified for the conference tournament for the 19th straight season. They reached the GPAC tournament final for the first time in program history in 2015 when they were the runner up to Midland. Concordia was also a conference tournament runner up back in 1996 (prior to the formation of the GPAC).
· A stellar season continues for the Kearney native Keck, who has gone past 300 kills for the second year in a row. She also surpassed 900 career kills (903) as part of the win over Dakota Wesleyan. She has moved up to No. 14 on the program’s all-time kills list. While Keck is the team leader in kills (303) this season, the team’s other statistical leaders include Gabi Nordaker in hitting percentage (.354) and blocks (120), Savannah Shelburne in assists (565) and aces (30) and Becca Gebhardt in digs (376). In addition to Keck, there are four Concordia players with more than 170 kills on the season: Ella Waters (238), Nordaker (215), Addie Kirkegaard (197) and Kya Scott (173). Nordaker continues to rank among the program’s top five all-time for career blocks (578) and kills (1,375) while Gebhardt ranks No. 5 in school history or career digs (1,591). Four more digs will move Gebhardt past Jocelyn Garcia (1,594) for No. 4 on the list.
· Under the direction of Ben and Angie Boldt, the Bulldogs have posted respective GPAC regular season place finishes of seventh, third, third, fifth, third, first and second over their seven years. The 15 GPAC wins recorded by the 2024 team have set a new program record for conference victories in a single season. The previous standard was 14 by the ’23 team that shared the GPAC regular season title with Jamestown and Northwestern. In another first for the program, the 2024 Bulldogs went a perfect 8-0 in conference road matches. No other Concordia Volleyball team has gone undefeated in GPAC road contests since the conference went to a 16-match regular season slate. Over seven seasons, the Boldts have led the Bulldogs to a combined conference mark of 78-33.
· Heading into the semifinals, the Bulldogs sports GPAC team rankings of first in kills per set (14.19), second in hitting percentage (.239), third in digs per set (18.40), third in blocks per set (2.35) and 10th in aces per set (1.23). On the individual conference leaderboards, Keck ranks third in kills per set (3.44) and Nordaker ranks second in blocks per set (1.36). Nationally, Concordia ranks third in kills per set and tied for 13th in hitting percentage.
The opponent
The Bulldogs and Warriors will meet again after the two sides got together in Fremont for the regular season finale on Nov. 5. Concordia won that meeting in four sets, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-19. The Bulldogs have won each of the last four regular season matchups. Sandwiched in the middle of those meetings was a Midland victory that occurred at the final site of the national tournament. Ranked 22nd in the NAIA, the Warriors moved to the semifinals with a quarterfinal win over Dordt. Now in his 15th season as head coach, Paul Giesselmann entered this season with a record of 333-128 at Midland. The perennially strong Warrior program reached the national semifinals in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and played in the national title match in 2020. In 2024, Midland owns GPAC rankings of second in blocks per set (2.49), sixth in hitting percentage (.168), seventh in kills per set (12.36), seventh in aces per set (1.31) and eighth in digs per set (16.89). Middle Blocker Abbey Ringler is a returning First Team All-GPAC award winner.
2024 GPAC Tournament
Quarterfinals – Saturday, Nov. 9
(1) Northwestern def. (8) College of Saint Mary, 3-1
(5) Hastings def. (4) Morningside, 3-1
(3) Midland def. (6) Dordt, 3-0
(2) Concordia def. (7) Dakota Wesleyan, 3-0
Semifinals – Wednesday, Nov. 13
(5) Hastings at (1) Northwestern, 7 p.m.
(3) Midland at (2) Concordia, 7 p.m.
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 16
Highest seed hosts, time TBA