No. 17 Bulldogs gain a victory over the Prairie Wolves

SEWARD, Neb. – The No. 17 Concordia volleyball team came out victorious over Nebraska Wesleyan University in the homecoming match on Saturday, Oct. 10. The Bulldogs took three straight, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-22. Six different Bulldogs notched at least six kills in the GPAC contest.

Head coach Scott Mattera said, “We prepared really well, the girls had a really good mind set. We had a couple of great practices Thursday and Friday and we talked about what consistency looks like and overall, we played pretty consistent. There were some ups and downs but it wasn’t the wild swings of momentum…we played a pretty smart match overall.”

Overall, the Bulldogs hit .255 as a team, recording 44 total kills. Claire White led the way with nine kills and also had 11 digs. Annie Friesen tallied eight kills and hit .389 on the match. Taylor Workman and Tiegen Skains each amassed seven kills. Setter Alayna Kavanaugh and Paige Getz each had six kills. Kavanaugh also dished out 31 assists. Libby Zagel owned four service aces.

“Paige made great decisions on the outside today, we saw more diverse shots out of her today,” Mattera noted. “Claire has every shot in the book and used every shot in the book. Tiegen wasn’t getting it done on the right so we changed her and started bringing her up the middle and she did great with it.”

The balanced attack started in the first set when seven Bulldogs claimed at least one kill. The team hit a solid .257 and recorded just four errors.

In the second set, CUNE stayed consistent with a balanced attack and hitting percentage. The Lady ‘Dogs hit .219 while holding the Prairie Wolves to -.032 in the second set and a two set combined percentage of .123.

Concordia ended the match with a hitting percentage of .282 in the third and left NWU with a three set mark of .162. The Bulldogs played a strong serving game with six aces and a .851 serving percentage for the match.

“We played well tonight,” White commented on the win. “We were really focused on our consistency and keeping a high level game the whole time and I think we did that well tonight. We really try to mix it up and make sure all our hitters are getting equal if not close to the same amount of balls. Alayna really focuses on that and does a really good job with that.”

The No. 17 Concordia Bulldogs improve to 19-5 overall and 7-2 in GPAC play. The loss dropped Nebraska Wesleyan to 6-14, 0-8 in GPAC.

The Bulldogs will be back on the court next Wednesday as they travel to Fremont, Neb. to take on No. 4 Midland who is still undefeated this season.