SEWARD, Neb. – As Head Coach Ben Boldt said afterwards, the Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball program is one that “100 percent expects” to make it to the final site of the NAIA National Championships. First things first, the second-ranked Bulldogs had to stave off the upset bid from visiting Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) on Saturday (Nov. 23) afternoon. Concordia accomplished that aim, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22, while hitting .351 against the Red River Athletic Conference tournament champions.
Boldt’s crew will take a 25-3 overall record into action at the final site set to get started on Dec. 4 versus an opponent to be determined.
“You get used to the GPAC teams that you play over and over again, and you get some familiarity with them,” Boldt said. “Having a new opponent come in here, they’re a difficult matchup just to figure out where they’re going to hit the ball and where they’re going to put our defense. We needed to be sharp on the offensive side, and we could have been a lot cleaner. Ultimately, it’s about competing, and I think we did that throughout the match.”
The first and third sets were both tight down the stretch. A unique style brought north by the Saints gave the Bulldogs their share of fits. OLLU closed within 22-21 in the opening set and evened up the third set, 22-22. Like Kobe, Concordia proved it close it out when the tension built. Gabi Nordaker put the finishing touches on the victory with a kill for match point. The fifth-year All-American out of Milard West High School appeared in the 15th national tournament match of her career.
On the other side, OLLU (23-9) had problems of its own dealing with the height and firepower of the Bulldog attackers. GPAC Attacker of the Year Ashley Keck led all players with 15 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. The numbers were also strong for Ella Waters (10 kills, .500), Kya Scott (10 kills, .360) and Nordaker (nine kills, .538). Setters Savannah Shelburne (21 assists) and Lily Psencik (18 assists) combined for 39 assists as Concordia owned a 51-38 kills advantage for the match.
The victory allowed the Bulldogs to ring the bell one more time at home this season. Concordia went 12-1 inside Friedrich Arena this fall during another season of significant achievement. Success is all seniors like Becca Gebhardt (16 digs on Saturday) have known during their careers.
Said Gebhardt of the opportunity to advance to the final site once again, “I think it’s a testament to what this program is, and what the Boldts have built here. They have a great culture – love, trust, hard work, sacrifice – that’s what it’s built on. I think that’s what takes us so far – the relationships that we have and the connections that we have.”
The opening round matchup had some added juice to it in that former Concordia head coach Scott Mattera is in his sixth season leading OLLU. Mattera’s squad was paced by 10 kills from Anais Velasquez. Carly Dossett landed three of her team’s six aces. The Saints made their fifth all-time appearance on the national stage.
Said Boldt, “It was really tough to set up our defense. Their outsides really like to hit it down the line, so we set up our blockers more that way. That opens the court up a little bit more for digging. I thought we did a good job of staying disciplined with that and frustrating them. Offensively, we were trying to attack the middle of the court more than we normally do. I thought we executed that when we needed to. We worked through some tough spots – nothing was given to us in this one.”
National tournament action at the final site, the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, will begin with pool play on Dec. 4. According to NAIA.org, final site pools will be determined on Sunday and will be released by 1 p.m. CT. Each of the 24 teams that advance to the final site are guaranteed to play two matches in pool play. The eight teams that emerge from pool play then move on to the single-elimination bracket.