Game Notes: No. 4 Concordia hosts No. 1 Northwestern

By Jacob Knabel on Sep. 26, 2024 in Volleyball

SEWARD, Neb. – The anticipated clash between No. 4 Concordia and No. 1 Northwestern comes with GPAC championship implications. The two sides will enter Saturday afternoon’s homecoming clash with identical 5-0 GPAC league records. It will also be a rematch of the 2023 GPAC tournament championship match won by the Red Raiders in five sets in Orange City, Iowa. First serve of Saturday’s varsity match is set for 4 p.m. CT inside Friedrich Arena.

Saturday, Sept. 28 vs. No. 1 Northwestern (15-0, 5-0 GPAC), 4 p.m.
--104.9 Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Friedrich Arena (Seward, Neb.)
--Crowd theme: wear navy blue

Notable:

·        Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad (12-1, 5-0 GPAC) will take on a No. 1-ranked team for the second time this season. The Bulldogs outlasted then top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan in five sets back on Aug. 24 in Columbia, Mo. The IWU Wildcats won the 2023 NAIA national title in five sets over the current No. 1 team, Northwestern. In last season’s GPAC tournament title match, Concordia-Northwestern was also a matchup between squads ranked fourth and first in the NAIA coaches’ poll. Typically, when the Bulldogs have gone up against a No. 1 team, it has been a GPAC opponent. Last time Concordia hosted a No. 1, it was defeated by Jamestown in October 2021.

o   8/24/24 – def. No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan, 3-2.

o   11/11/23 – lost at No. 1 Northwestern, 3-2 (GPAC Championship).

o   11/13/21 – lost at No. 1 Jamestown, 3-0 (GPAC Championship).

o   10/22/21 – lost vs. No. 1 Jamestown, 3-0.

o   11/6/219 – lost at No. 1 Northwestern, 3-0.

·        Statistical comparison (GPAC rank in parentheses):

o   Kills per set – Concordia: 14.11 (1st) | Northwestern: 13.00 (6th)

o   Hitting percentage – Concordia: .245 (2nd) | Northwestern: .252 (1st)

o   Blocks per set – Concordia: 2.09 (4th) | Northwestern: 3.43 (1st)

o   Digs per set – Concordia: 17.06 (6th) | Northwestern: 15.84 (10th)

o   Aces per set – Concordia: 1.40 (8th) | Northwestern: 1.84 (2nd)

·        Dating back to 2017, Northwestern has won eight of the past 10 matchups with Concordia (results below). Three of the past four meetings have gone to five sets.

o   11/11/23 – Northwestern won, 3-2 (GPAC Championship), Orange City.

o   10/14/23 – Northwestern won, 3-0, Orange City.

o   10/15/22 – Concordia won, 3-2, Seward.

o   10/30/21 – Concordia won, 3-2, Orange City.

o   4/7/21 – Northwestern won, 3-1, Orange City.

o   10/10/20 – Northwestern won, 3-1, Seward.

o   11/6/19 – Northwestern won, 3-0, Orange City.

o   9/22/18 – Northwestern won, 3-0, Seward.

o   10/14/17 – Northwestern won, 3-0, Orange City.

o   9/16/17 – Northwestern won, 3-1, Seward.

·        Concordia has started 5-0 in conference play for the third time since Ben and Angie Boldt took the reins of the program prior to the 2018 season. The best run to begin conference play during that time was a 10-0 mark as part of last season’s GPAC regular season championship surge (shared title with Jamestown and Northwestern). Counting last season’s 14-2 GPAC regular season mark, the Bulldogs have gone a combined 19-2 over their last 21 conference regular season contests.

·        Through the season’s first 13 matches, the statistical leaders for the Bulldogs are Ashley Keck in kills (148), Gabi Nordaker in blocks (56) and hitting percentage (.326), Becca Gebhardt in digs (171), Savannah Shelburne and Cassidy Knust in aces (13 apiece) and Shelburne in assists (298). In addition to Keck, there are four Bulldogs with at least 80 kills on the year: Ella Waters (135), Addie Kirkegaard (105), Nordaker (99) and Kya Scott (82). Nordaker has pushed her career totals to 1,259 kills and 514 blocks, Keck has produced 748 career kills and Gebhardt owns 1,385 career digs.

Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch’s Red Raiders have started 15-0 after finishing 2023 at 31-3 overall and as the NAIA national runner up. Northwestern owns four wins this season over top 25 opponents and has breezed through the first five GPAC matches (all straight sets victories). The Red Raiders returned 2023 GPAC Player of the Year Jazlin Douma (maiden name De Haan) and fellow First Team All-GPAC honorees in outside hitter Alysen Dexter and middle blocker Zavyr Metzger, who leads the NAIA in blocks per set (1.90). In terms of kills per set, Douma (3.90) and Dexter (3.67) are the top two hitters in the GPAC. Like Concordia, Northwestern has used a pair of setters – Liv Reitsma and Logan Miller. The Red Raiders lead the GPAC with a .252 hitting percentage. On the other side of the net, Northwestern’s opponents are hitting just .098. The highly successful Van Den Bosch entered this season with a career record of 525-147. He has guided the program to a total of 14 NAIA national tournaments and 13 GPAC championships.