SEWARD, Neb. – It had been nearly a full 12 months since a visiting team had emerged from Friedrich Arena victorious. The top-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team never quite found the type of flow that it needed against No. 9 College of Saint Mary on Saturday (Oct. 21). The Flames blazed past the Bulldogs with 11 blocks and won in four sets, 25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21. The top 10 tussle came in front of a strong crowd clad in pink in support of breast cancer awareness.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad has dropped two of its last three outings in a challenging stretch of the GPAC schedule. Concordia (18-2, 11-2 GPAC) will now need some help in the final week-and-a-half of the regular season in order to claim a GPAC regular season title.
“It was great competition,” Boldt said. “They out-killed us, they out-blocked us and typically when you do that, you win the match. I was proud of our fight there. It was a really good match, really physical and a top 10 match. We have to be able to respond like champions.”
The plan of attack for CSM centered upon its fine middles of Azaria Green and Kamryn Willman. Green floored 18 kills on 31 swings while Willman registered eight total blocks, including two solos. The blocking of the Flames, along with the work of defensive specialist Rachel Cushing (match high 19 digs), kept the Bulldogs off their game. Concordia hit .210, well below its season clip of .280 entering the afternoon. The two primary middles for the Bulldogs were limited to a combined nine kills (seven errors).
All-American outside hitter Camryn Opfer enjoyed one of her better statistical matches of the season in supplying a match high 20 kills to go along with 14 digs and two blocks. Opfer rained down six kills during the triumphant third set. Concordia put that one away with a Carly Rodaway kill. In backing Opfer, Ashley Keck contributed 17 kills and 13 digs while Rodaway notched nine kills. Bree Burtwistle tallied 47 assists and 16 digs and Becca Gebhardt paced the back row with 17 digs.
What really burned the Bulldogs was their allowing the second set to get away from them. Three-straight Concordia points (one of which coming on a thunderous combined block from Sara Huss and Keck) gave the home team a 23-21 lead and prompted a Flames timeout. CSM then rattled off the next four points, including three on kills by Lexie Langley. Then in the fourth set, the Flames got a kill apiece from Langley and Green for point Nos. 24 and 25, respectively, to stamp out a potential rally.
Said Boldt, “Those last five or so points, they were tooling balls off our block. That’s something that can’t happen. We’ve got to get tough up there and turn the ball back into the court. That was kind of the difference in the last part of the set. It was pretty tight throughout, but that was the difference in the end.
“We need to be great at what we’re great at, and that’s killing the ball. In the sets they won, we got out-killed. In the set we won, we out-killed them. When we’re at our best, we’re able to get into a good flow. We’ve got to get back to that. Defensively, we have to tighten up our block.”
CSM (21-5, 9-4 GPAC) managed to end a five-match series skid versus Concordia. This season’s first meeting was won by the Bulldogs in four sets in Omaha. In addition to strong performances from Green and Willman, Langley collected 11 kills and Grace Werner put away 12. The 11-5 blocking advantage proved crucial for the Flames, who also owned statistical edges in kills, 63-57, digs, 71-69, and aces, 5-2.
Only three matches remain in the 2023 regular season. Up next, the Bulldogs will be headed to Yankton, S.D., on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. CT varsity first serve with Mount Marty (10-18, 3-10 GPAC). The two sides met in Seward back on Sept. 20 with the result being a four-set victory for Concordia. The Lancers fell in four sets at No. 17 Midland on Saturday and are in a fight to get into the top eight of the GPAC standings and qualify for the conference tournament.