OMAHA, Neb. – The unblemished record fell by the wayside on Friday (Aug. 30) as the fourth-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team failed to find traction while up against No. 14 Bellevue University. The good news for the Bulldogs is they will quickly return to action on Saturday morning while continuing the College of Saint Mary Labor Day Classic in Omaha, Neb. Concordia will be looking to regroup after the in-state foe Bruins rolled to a 25-20, 25-18, 25-13, triumph.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad defeated No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan University and No. 7 Columbia College (Mo.) last weekend while racing out to a 5-0 record. Concordia felt like it ran into a buzzsaw on Friday afternoon inside the CSM Lied Fitness Center Fieldhouse.
“Credit to Bellevue. They won the serve and pass battle,” Boldt said. “We just couldn’t find a rhythm. Sometimes these games happen. We’re still trying to figure out our toughness as a team. It’s good to go through this and see what people are like when they are frustrated and what they need in those situations so that we can get better. We need to learn from it.”
Having already swept away the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) earlier in the day, Bellevue punctuated its dominant performance by running away from the Bulldogs in the third set. As Boldt mentioned, the Bruins very clearly enjoyed an advantage in the serve and pass games. On the other side of the net, Concordia was uncharacteristically sloppy with its own passing. A normally powerful and efficient Bulldog attack was limited to an .083 hitting percentage. Furthermore, the Bulldogs committed 22 attacking errors and had only one ace compared to nine service errors.
Returning All-American Kealy Kiviniemi hammered 13 kills and added five blocks while picking Concordia apart. Bellevue (6-2) held advantages in nearly all major statistical categories: 35-30 in kills, .211 to .083 in hitting percentage, 8-1 in aces and 7-6 in blocks. The Bulldogs owned a slight edge in digs, 41-38.
Ella Waters paced Concordia with eight kills on 18 swings. She added three blocks. Three teammates posted at least five kills: Gabi Nordaker (seven), Addie Kirkegaard (six) and Ashley Keck (five). Becca Gebhardt posted a team best eight digs and Nordaker supplied four blocks. Lily Psencik notched 14 assists while Savannah Shelburne produced the team’s lone ace.
Concordia and Bellevue clashed for the first time since their 2021 meeting inside Friedrich Arena (a five-set Bruin win). Bellevue also owns a victory this season over No. 12 Corban University (Ore.) and has been a perennial national qualifying team.
On the second and final day of the CSM Labor Day Classic, the Bulldogs will go up against fifth-ranked Viterbo University (Wis.) at 11 a.m. before taking on Oklahoma Panhandle State University (Okla.) at 5 p.m. The morning match will be carried live by 104.9 Max Country. Both matches will take place inside CSM’s fieldhouse.