SEWARD, Neb. – Faced with only its third five-set match this season, the sixth-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team answered the call when it mattered most on Saturday (Oct. 15). The Bulldogs effectively shook off last weekend’s road trip up north and edged No. 7 Northwestern, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-9, inside Friedrich Arena. Carly Rodaway hit .433 from the right side and emerged with big plays down the stretch for the victors.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad is a perfect 7-0 at home in 2022 and now stands at 17-3 overall (8-3 GPAC). Dating back to last season, Concordia has won 10 straight home matches.
“It was a really fun match back and forth between two evenly-matched teams,” Boldt said. “I thought we stuck together really well, kept our heads and stayed aggressive. It was a battle of adjustments. Sometimes you have to set up your block towards the line and then inside and mess around with your back row and where you put them. I thought our players executed when they needed to. The margins are small in these kinds of matches.”
It takes a helping of mental toughness and a side of grit to pull out these GPAC barn burners. It was anybody’s ballgame with the fifth-set score knotted, 8-8. Fifth-year senior Morgan Nibbe kickstarted the Bulldog run with a kill before Rodaway went wild. The Lincoln Pius X High School alum surfaced with a block for points 10 and 13 and then hammered a kill for No. 14. For match point, Camryn Opfer and Gabi Nordaker combined to stuff the Red Raider attack.
Rodaway finished with 15 kills. Three of her teammates joined her with double figures in kills: Ashley Keck (18), Opfer (13) and Nordaker (12). Meanwhile, Bree Burtwistle notched 52 assists and four Bulldogs reached 14 or more digs: Rebecca Gebhardt (20), Burtwistle (17), Opfer (17) and Lexie Kreizel (14). The totals were reflective of the closeness of the match as Concordia owned slight advantages in hitting percentage, .232 to .217, and kills, 69-63.
Gebhardt and her teammates simply got back to work after dropping two matches on the road last weekend. Said Gebhardt, “We worked a lot on communication and connections. We can all play great every day, and we just need to go out there and play great and lean into each other when things are going bad. That’s what we focused on.”
Added Boldt, “Our out-of-system setting is something we’ve been focusing on. It’s a two-way street. The set’s got to be good and the attacker has to drive to the ball … We were pretty sharp down the stretch. Kudos to our players for being focused and being able to get back their (in service) and nail it out.”
This one was drawn out about as long as it could have been considering both teams scored at least 22 points through each of the first four sets. Northwestern (18-5, 8-4 GPAC) had carried a seven-match win streak into the contest. Star outside hitter Alysen Dexter paced the Red Raiders with 19 kills (to go along with 14 digs). Jazlin De Haan and Bekah Horstman totaled 16 kills apiece.
The Bulldogs will remain at home this Wednesday as they entertain Doane (8-21, 1-11 GPAC) inside Friedrich Arena. First serve of the varsity match is set for 7:30 p.m. CT (junior varsity at 6 p.m.). The two sides met in Crete on Sept. 14 with the result being a Concordia win in straight sets, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19. Having been eliminated from GPAC tournament contention, the Tigers will be playing the role of spoiler down the stretch.