SEWARD, Neb. – The streak continues for a Concordia University Volleyball program that prides itself on excellence on and off the court. The 2023-24 Bulldog squad became the first in school history to achieve an NAIA coaches’ poll No. 1 national ranking and has pushed the program’s streak of consecutive Team Academic Awards from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) to 26. The active streak ranks No. 1 in the NAIA and tied for first among volleyball programs across all levels of collegiate competition.
The AVCA team award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale or 4.10 on a 5.0 scale. Head Coach Ben Boldt’s 2023-24 team produced GPA’s 3.5 or greater for both the fall and spring semesters. The program’s streak of consecutive AVCA Team Academic Awards dates back to 1999. The next longest streak in the NAIA is 17.
Impressively, the 2023 Concordia squad also landed 18 team members on the list of NAIA Scholar-Athletes (second most in the nation). That group included four Bulldogs named Academic All-District award winners by College Sports Communicators: Bree Burtwistle, Ashley Keck, Camryn Opfer and Carly Rodaway. Burtwistle and Opfer were also selected as CSC Academic All-Americans. On the court, the 2023 team shared the GPAC regular season title and finished at 25-4 overall.
The schedule for the 2024 season can be viewed HERE. Concordia is slated to open the campaign at home versus Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) on Aug. 16.