NAIA Volleyball National Championship Info
SEWARD, Neb. – Following a run to the GPAC tournament championship match, the Concordia University Volleyball team learned of its draw for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on Monday (Nov. 15). The 19th-ranked Bulldogs were rewarded with an opportunity to host Ave Maria University (Fla.) as part of Saturday’s opening round. Match time from Friedrich Arena is slated for 1 p.m. CT.
Head Coach Ben Boldt and top assistant Angie Boldt have now led the program to a third-straight national tournament appearance. The 2021 Concordia team qualified for nationals with an automatic berth via its GPAC tournament runner-up claim. During the GPAC postseason, the Bulldogs knocked off two teams that were ranked fifth at the time matches were contested – Midland and College of Saint Mary.
The Gyrenes will be headed to Seward all the way from Ave Maria, Fla., a distance of 1,632 miles. Ave Maria has earned the program’s first-ever trip to nationals. Head Coach Sonya Leszczynski’s squad sports an overall record of 22-7 and is fresh off winning The Sun Conference tournament championship. The Gyrenes ventured up north back in August for a weekend event in Grand Rapids, Mich., where they went 3-1. Nationally, Ave Maria ranks 16th in hitting percentage (.241) and 19th in kills per set (13.35).
This will mark the second time the Bulldogs have hosted an opening round match (first time since 2015). In last season’s opening round, Concordia traveled to New Orleans and defeated Xavier University of Louisiana in four sets. The 2020 Bulldogs went on to advance to the NAIA national quarterfinals, the deepest national tournament run in program history. Concordia also reached the national round of 16 in 2019. The program owns a record of 5-4 all-time at the national tournament.
Each opening round winner will advance to pool play at the final site, the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. The action in Sioux City will run from Nov. 30 – Dec. 4.
National Tournament Facts
· Concordia will be making the fourth national tournament appearance in program history. The 2015 squad became the first Bulldog volleyball edition to qualify for nationals. The ’15 squad was defeated in the opening round while hosting Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.). Then in 2019, Concordia broke through with an advancement to the national round of 16 and claimed the program’s first two national tournament victories – over Montana Tech and the University of Saint Mary (Kan.).
· The 2020 team took things a step further by reaching the NAIA national quarterfinals. The path to the quarterfinals included wins over Xavier University of Louisiana (opening round), Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) and No. 7 Marian University (Ind.). The run ended with a loss to Dordt. Entering this year’s national tournament, the Bulldogs are 5-4 all-time at the national tournament.
· At last season’s national tournament (played in the spring of 2021; postponed by COVID-19), Camryn Opfer was named to the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament team. Over the four national tournament matches, Opfer accumulated 59 kills and 60 digs while hitting .181. Opfer piled up 19 kills in the win over Marian. It was also a solid tournament for Gabi Nordaker, who totaled 25 kills and six blocks in the five-set victory over Lindsey Wilson. This will be the third national tournament experience for Tara Callahan, Arleigh Costello, Nordaker, Opfer and Kalee Wiltfong.
· Concordia owns wins over six teams that qualified for the 2021 national tournament: College of Saint Mary, Dakota Wesleyan, Midland, Montana Tech, Northwestern and Ottawa University (Kan.). In total, 16 of the team’s 27 matches this season were played against teams that qualified for the national tournament. According to Massey Ratings, the Bulldogs have gone up against the most challenging schedule in the entire NAIA.
· Ave Maria defeated both Florida Memorial and Coastal Georgia in straight sets as part of The Sun Conference tournament. The Gyrenes went 11-3 in conference play this season. According to the school’s website, “Ave Maria University is a vibrant University located in beautiful Southwest Florida. It is an academic institution that pledges faithfulness to the teachings of the Catholic Church and is committed to offering one of the finest classical liberal arts curricula available, as well as opportunities for specialized study in all of the sciences and humanities.”