SEWARD, Neb. – In its first home appearance in three-and-a-half weeks, the third-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team responded after visiting College of Saint Mary dominated the second set. All was well when Ashlyn Wischmeier’s ace serve landed for match point and the Bulldogs celebrated the win, 25-19, 16-25, 25-14, 25-19, inside Friedrich Arena on Wednesday (Sept. 11). Fifth-year Bulldog Gabi Nordaker stamped out the Flames with nine blocks on the evening as she eclipsed 500 for her career.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad improved to 9-1 overall (2-0 GPAC) in returning to action for the first time since last Wednesday’s four-set win at Mount Marty. This one got choppy at times, but Concordia righted the ship in the third set.
“We weren’t necessarily firing on all cylinders, but that’s going to happen,” Boldt said. “We have a good group. I was really proud of Sydney Jelinek. She came in and looked really good. She tears it up in practice, so I had no hesitation. We had rhythm at times and then we didn’t have rhythm at times. We have to be able to sustain that for the whole match.”
None of the sets had any real drama in the waning stages. The Bulldogs delivered the first blow before taking one from CSM in the second set. The Flames (9-6, 0-2 GPAC) shell-shocked Concordia with a run of 10-straight points in the second set and ran away with it. The serve and pass game for the Bulldogs evaded them for that stretch of play. CSM took advantage and hit .323 in the second set.
Boldt saw the response he wanted. Lifted up by its blocking, Concordia surged back and held the Flames to negative hitting percentages in both the third and fourth sets. Nordaker got in on nine of the team’s 11 blocks for the night. Career block No. 500 came in the third set for the Millard West High School product. Nordaker is just one of three players in the program’s history with more than 1,000 kills and 500 blocks for a career.
Said Nordaker, “I’ve been putting a lot more focus into blocking in practice. I wanted to start stronger at the beginning of the season. I feel great. I think we are lining up with the middles and with the outsides. We’ve put in a lot of work. That’s probably why our blocking numbers are so high.”
Nordaker added seven kills (.375 hitting percentage) to her stat line as the Bulldogs owned advantages in kills, 53-38, hitting percentage, .239 to .082, blocks, 11-8, digs, 62-55, and aces, 6-5. Three Concordia attackers reached double figures in kills: Ashley Keck (15 kills and 12 digs), Ella Waters (13) and Addie Kirkegaard (10). The setting duo of Savannah Shelburne and Lily Psencik combined for 41 assists. In the back row, Becca Gebhardt accumulated 20 digs.
On the other side, CSM slipped to 0-2 in conference play having also been defeated by Midland. The Flames got a team high nine kills from Liz Henrichson. The GPAC Freshman of the Year in 2023, Azaria Green was limited to four kills (in addition to four blocks).
Though there were some rough patches, Concordia ended the evening emphatically with four-straight points following a timeout. Two of those points came via ace serves from Wischmeier.
Said Boldt, “We tried a couple of things, we set some different people and we switched up our rotations. They stayed with it. In those situations, we have to execute. We go back to fundamentals and being able to do it under pressure. I think we got ourselves there. That’s what the GPAC is – it’s going to prepare you for the toughest competition, and you never get a night off.”
The three-match homestand will continue on Saturday when No. 20 Midland (6-6, 2-0 GPAC) makes a visit to Friedrich Arena. First serve is set for 3 p.m. CT. There will be a parents recognition as part of the afternoon. The Bulldogs twice defeated the Warriors during the 2023 regular season before being tripped up at the national tournament by Midland.