CRETE, Neb. – A dominant opening frame set the tone as the second-ranked Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team earned a road win at rival Doane, 25-12, 25-21, 25-20, on Wednesday (Sept. 23). Junior outside hitter Shandy Fa’ali’i blemished the blacktop in Crete with 16 kills in an overall strong outing. The stout Bulldog block flustered the Tigers into hitting .109 inside their home gym, the Haddix Center.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad remains unbeaten in conference play (5-0) while moving to 14-2 overall. Concordia’s series win streak over Doane has advanced to nine. Boldt observed a sharper performance as compared to four days earlier in the close call with Hastings.
“Our rhythm was a lot better,” Boldt said. “There’s so much that goes into it. There’s trust and communication that goes into it. We really wanted to come back to our fundamentals. I think that’s a huge part of why we were a lot cleaner tonight.”
Crisp serving and passing allowed setters Myla Emery and Ella Brueggemann to tee the ball up for Fa’ali’i, who has expanded her bag of tricks as her experience on the outside grows. She put hit .387 and added two aces on the evening. In the middle, senior Bella Hedke proved to be a thorn in the opposition’s side as she went for eight kills (on 15 attacks) and four blocks.
The Bulldogs smoldered in the opening set with a .440 hitting percentage. They proceeded to hammer away with 15 kills apiece in the second and third sets. At the net, Concordia overwhelmed Doane with an 8-2 blocking advantage. The key contributors in that department included Hedke, Laynee Baker (four blocks), Maddie Paulsen (four blocks) and Makenna Starkey (three blocks).
There was credit to go around. In the back row, senior Lanie Brott came through with 12 digs while Emma Brueggemann (who “passed nails,” according to Boldt) and Kyla Griess added seven digs each and Jenna Sladky notched six. Emery and Clara Evert equaled Fa’ali’i with two aces. Emery and Ella Brueggemann combined for 30 assists. The young setting duo will play a major factor in what becomes of this season.
Said Boldt, “We want to try to be consistent with killing the ball from the other pin. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on. We want to be as balanced as possible. We are challenging our setters. If you set the outside all the time, it’s going to get stale. They did an awesome job of moving the ball around and staying neutral tonight. It’s really hard to read that as a defense.”
Doane has slipped to 4-13 overall (1-4 GPAC). The Tigers got a starring performance on Wednesday from Kylie Williams, who tallied nine kills on 16 swings. Meanwhile, Brooke Larsen totaled a match-high 18 digs. Concordia owned statistical advantages over Doane in hitting percentage, .298 to .109, kills, 42-28, aces, 6-3, and digs, 49-46, in addition to its significant edge in blocking.
A much lengthier road trip is coming up Saturday when the Bulldogs will head north to Mitchell, S.D., for a matchup with No. 12 Dakota Wesleyan (13-4, 2-3 GPAC). First serve of the varsity contest is set for 3 p.m. CT from the Christen Family Athletic Center. Concordia will attempt to extend its six-match series win streak over the Tigers. The two sides met in pool play at last year’s national tournament.