SIOUX CITY, Iowa – There was nothing easy about it on Tuesday (Nov. 30), but the 19th-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team has been in these situations before. One of many contributors to the victory, Arleigh Costello put the contest away with a match-point kill while locking up the program’s seventh all-time win at the national tournament. The Bulldogs held off No. 25 Oregon Tech, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23, as part of NAIA Volleyball National Championship pool play.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad moved to 18-11 overall and is now one win away from reaching the NAIA national quarterfinals for the second season in a row.
“Any time you get to this point you’ve got to earn it,” Boldt said. “It’s going to be tight matches against good teams. They called timeout late in the second set – this has been one of our things – concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory. Those are two-point, three-point sets the whole time. It’s mental more than physical and that was a big message of ours. I’m really proud of how we came through.”
The national stage is nothing new for the likes of veterans Tara Callahan, Gabi Nordaker, Camryn Opfer and many others. It’s a group that isn’t afraid of having to ‘earn it.’ Concordia did just that while hammering out respective set-by-set kill totals of 20, 14, 19 and 18. It also took a little resilience in the first set when the Bulldogs found themselves trailing 21-15. A run of six-straight points was punctuated by a block and a kill from Kalee Wiltfong, and Concordia was on its way.
Oregon Tech (24-7) showed some grit of its own in coming back to win the second set and making it a nail-biter that nearly went five. Nicole Reyes (match high 17 kills) was particularly tough to stop from the outside. Faith Houck-Wylie (16 kills and five blocks) had a nice day in the middle. The Owls were feisty enough to perch within striking distance despite disadvantages in hitting percentage, .281 to .194, kills, 71-54, digs, 86-65, and blocks, 13-10.
Said Boldt, “We saw a matchup we liked with our right sides, but as the match went along, we saw something that was open in the middle. It was a balanced effort …That was a warrior of a team we were playing there. They went five earlier today – and playing two matches in a day is tough. They played really, really well. We stayed tough.”
Nordaker led the way with 15 kills and seven blocks. Four of her teammates notched at least 10 kills: Opfer (14), Erica Heinzerling (13), Wiltfong (11) and Costello (10). Carly Rodaway also added eight kills. The setter combo of Callahan (35 assists) and Burtwistle (24 assists) piled up 59 combined assists with high efficiency rates coming in the middle and on the right side. Burtwistle also paced the team with 21 digs while Opfer produced 18 digs. That’s called balance.
“Our bench is so deep,” said Heinzerling, who got out to a hot start with six kills in the opening set. “Everyone contributes in so many ways. It’s amazing to see people step up and fill a role. Everyone did their job, everyone stepped up and everyone held each other accountable.”
On day two (Dec. 1) of pool play, the Bulldogs will take on the highest rated team in Pool B – No. 2 Viterbo University (Wis.), which got past Oregon Tech in five sets earlier in the day on Tuesday. The V-Hawks (39-1) have won 32 matches in a row since a four-set loss at the hands of Midland back in August. Wednesday’s first serve is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. CT. The winner will be bound for the NAIA national quarterfinals while the loser will be eliminated from the tournament.