SEWARD, Neb. – The powerful and balanced attack of the 11th-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team was on display on Friday (Aug. 26) as it appeared at home for the first time in 2022. The Bulldogs quickly motored through the first two sets by hitting .462 and .440, respectively, in what amounted to a straight-sets win over visiting McPherson College (Kan.), 25-10, 25-11, 25-23. Five Concordia hitters collected five or more kills, led by the 10 from right side Carly Rodaway.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad is in the midst of hosting the annual Bulldog Bash, which also features GPAC rival College of Saint Mary and Texas Wesleyan University. Concordia will take a 4-0 record in Saturday’s action.
“We made good decisions offensively,” Boldt said. “I thought we could have served the ball better, but offensively we made good decisions. We didn’t make errors – we hit over .400 in that first set. That was good to see. It was clean offensively.
“It comes back down to trust. The ability to set Carly Rodaway on the back side really opens things up for us. Carly is one of these players that can make something out of nothing. It’s easy to set her back there. We’re really trying to establish our middle attack. When we’re in system, that’s a little bit easier. We’re trying to spread it around.”
When it’s necessary, stars Gabi Nordaker and Camryn Opfer can go wild, but there’s a lot more to this team. McPherson (which also calls itself the Bulldogs) had no answers in the opening two sets when Concordia combined for 29 kills compared to only six errors. So far this season, Bree Burtwistle has worked her way into the setter position seamlessly. She added 36 more assists on Friday while setting the ball on a tee for the likes of Rodaway, Nordaker (nine kills), Opfer (seven kills), Kalee Wiltfong (six kills) and Ashley Keck (five kills).
McPherson (4-1) finally found some traction in the third set and showed fight in rally back from a 19-14 deficit to tie the score. It was knotted at 23-23 when Opfer emerged with a kill prior to a McPherson attack error that put it on ice. The visitors were paced by the 10 kills from Katelyn Moore, but they hit only .057 as a team (25 kills and 20 errors).
Concordia got contributions from 12 players who saw time on the court. That group included fifth-year senior Morgan Nibbe, who put away an emphatic kill to end the second set. Libero Rebecca Gebhardt produced team highs of 11 digs and three aces on the night. Opfer added nine digs and two blocks while Nordaker was also in on two blocks. Opfer now owns career collegiate totals of 992 digs and 985 kills.
In the first match of the Bulldog Bash, No. 18 College of Saint Mary routed Texas Wesleyan, 25-8, 25-14, 25-18. Concordia won’t be focused on what happened on Friday by the time Saturday rolls around. Boldt will expect his team to tighten things up from the service line.
Said Boldt, “Our message is to stay in the present – don’t get too far ahead of anything. Our theme this year is ‘lean in,’ so we’ve got to be able to rely on each other. No one person can do it. We’re going to try to be right here, right now.”
Concordia and Texas Wesleyan (3-1) will go head-to-head at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday. The Rams are receiving votes in the NAIA preseason poll after qualifying for the 2021 national tournament. The contest on Saturday will lead into the start of conference play next Wednesday (Aug. 31).