SEWARD, Neb. – Both the Concordia University volleyball team and Jamestown held serve at home in the quarterfinals of the GPAC tournament and will now meet in the semifinals. The 16th-ranked Bulldogs and eighth-ranked Jimmies will go head-to-head at 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday inside Newman Arena in Jamestown, N.D. The two sides also met inside Walz Arena on Oct. 31 in what resulted in a five-set win for Jamestown.
GPAC Semifinals
Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Jamestown (27-4), 7 p.m.
--Live Webcast | Live Stats | 104.9 Max Country
Head coach Ben Boldt’s squad is in hot pursuit of an NAIA national tournament bid. An automatic bid will go to the team that wins the GPAC tournament. Concordia (23-5) helped its chances by knocking off Doane, 25-18, 25-16, 20-25, 25-19, in the conference quarterfinals on Nov. 9. The program has now won four-straight GPAC tournament home matches, but it has never captured a conference postseason championship. The last league title for the program came in the regular season in 2000 (three-way tie) and its most recent and only national tournament bid came in 2015.
The victory over Doane was just the latest reflection of the balanced Bulldog roster. In that contest, four Bulldogs had at least 10 kills (Arleigh Costello, Emmie Noyd, Kalee Wiltfong and Camryn Opfer) and four had 11 or more digs (Erin Johnson, Marissa Hoerman, Opfer and Tara Callahan). On the season, five Concordia players have recorded at least 182 kills: Noyd (333), Opfer (268), Kara Stark (235), Wiltfong (227) and Costello (182). The Bulldogs are outhitting their opposition, .236 to .152.
A spot in the GPAC championship match would be another remarkable achievement for a program that is just two years removed from a 9-19 season. The current .821 win percentage is the best for the program during the GPAC era. During that same timeframe, the 2019 edition is one of three Bulldog squads to win at least 23 matches in a season (GPAC-era record is 26). Concordia has reached such heights while playing a schedule that Massey Ratings lists as the 16th most challenging in the NAIA.
The home venues of Concordia and Jamestown are nearly 500 miles apart. Top-ranked Northwestern is the only visiting team all season to emerge from Newman Arena with a victory. In last week’s GPAC quarterfinals, the Jimmies got past Morningside in straight sets behind 13 kills from Ellie Michaletz. Jamestown has won 19 of its last 21 matches with the two defeats both coming at the hands of the Red Raiders. Nationally, Jamestown ranks eighth in blocks per set (2.44) and 26th in hitting percentage (.223).
The winner in Jamestown will advance to the championship and play either eighth-seeded College of Saint Mary (23-13) or fourth-seeded Midland (19-9) at 7 p.m. on Saturday. If Concordia is to defeat the Jimmies, it would host the title match as the highest remaining seed.
2019 GPAC Volleyball Tournament
GPAC Quarterfinals – Saturday, Nov. 9
No. 8 College of Saint Mary def. No. 1 Northwestern, 3-0
No. 4 Midland def. No. 5 Dordt, 3-1
No. 3 Concordia def. No. 6 Doane, 3-1
No. 2 Jamestown def. No. 7 Morningside, 3-0
GPAC Semifinals – Wednesday, Nov. 13
No. 4 Midland vs. No. 8 College of Saint Mary, 7 p.m.
No. 2 Jamestown vs. No. 3 Concordia, 7 p.m.
GPAC Championship – Saturday, Nov. 16
7 p.m. at highest remaining seed
*The final NAIA top 25 poll and official NAIA national qualifiers will be announced by the NAIA on Monday, Nov. 18. More information on NAIA volleyball can be found HERE.