By Tara Lujan
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Concordia University volleyball team settled into the No. 7 seed in the GPAC tournament after falling at the hands of Morningside on Saturday as the Mustangs celebrated senior night. Morningside took the Bulldogs in three sets, 25-21, 25-19, 26-24.
Concordia will enter the postseason with records of 15-18 overall and 6-10 in the GPAC.
"We ran into a buzz-saw this afternoon,” said Scott Mattera, who is in his fifth year of coaching the Bulldogs. “Morningside was fantastic on senior day and they absolutely deserved the win. We played pretty well and battled hard down the stretch, but it was just their day."
Senior Paige Getz produced the day’s biggest highlight by moving up another notch on the program’s all-time kills list. On Saturday she landed nine kills to move past assistant coach Rachel (Kirchner) Miller for third place in school history. Getz now has 1,323 kills in her four seasons at Concordia.
Bulldog defensive specialist, Jocelyn Garcia, helped the team out with 10 digs. Taylor Workman, a Lincoln, Neb., native, kept Concordia competitive with an impressive 12 kills for the night. Unfortunately, it was no match for Morningside’s leading attackers Ashley Vande Stouwe (14 kills) and Brittni Olson (11 kills).
The last time the Bulldogs took on Morningside (19-12, 8-8 GPAC) they were able to pull a five-set win over the Mustangs inside Walz Arena. Although Concordia fell in Sioux City, it has some momentum having won four of its last six matches.
"We are not hanging our heads at all,” Mattera said. “We are pumped to have a great practice on Monday and go compete with whomever our matchup is in the first round. We know we can play with anyone and none of us are ready for this to be over.”
The Bulldogs will have new life when the GPAC quarterfinals open up on Tuesday (Nov. 8). Seventh-seeded Concordia will be at second-seeded Midland (24-2, 14-2 GPAC), which earned a share of the GPAC regular-season title. The Warriors took both regular-season matchups versus the Bulldogs. Tuesday’s first serve from Fremont, Neb., is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.