SEWARD, Neb. – Sharp and focused, the Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team looked every bit like the No. 2-ranked team in the NAIA on Wednesday (Nov. 13). For the fourth-straight season, the Bulldogs are moving on to the GPAC tournament championship match after ringing No. 20 Midland’s bell, 25-17, 25-20, 25-14, inside Friedrich Arena. The two rivals met for the second time in nine days in a conference semifinal matchup harboring few secrets between familiar foes.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad (seeded second in the GPAC) also cut through seventh-seeded Dakota Wesleyan as part of the 2024 postseason run. Concordia will carry a 24-2 overall record into the GPAC final at No. 1 Northwestern.
“I told the team, I thought that was one of the most complete games that we’ve played all year,” Boldt said. “Before the match started, we talked about a theme from the beginning of the year: defense. Defense wins championships. We held them to .083 hitting and really out-dug them. I thought we funneled them with our block to where our diggers were, and we capitalized by putting the ball away.”
Afterwards, star junior outside hitter Ashley Keck struggled to think of what the team could have done much better, although the Boldts will likely find something on the film. But that will only be knit-picking from a match that saw the Bulldogs take control of all three sets. Concordia raced out to leads of 7-2 in the first set, 12-6 in the second set and 12-4 in the third set while making the Warriors play catch up all night.
Not a single Midland attacker had more than six kills for the evening and the Warriors failed to hit better than .132 in any single set. Becca Gebhardt served as a thorn in their side with 19 digs while Keck posted 11 digs. Gabi Nordaker led the way with three blocks and three teammates collected two apiece as part of a sterling overall defensive effort. It was one Concordia would like to bottle up and pack with it on the road this Saturday.
Said Keck of advancing to another GPAC title match, “It’s really satisfying. It’s a team effort. It’s really nice to sweep Midland after they took a set from us the last time we played them. Just playing solid, all together, composed and free is really what got us to this place.”
Keck paced a balanced attack with nine kills. Nordaker and Kya Scott followed with eight kills apiece and Ella Waters added seven. Lily Psencik posted 20 assists, seven digs and an ace and Savannah Shelburne notched 16 assists, seven digs and an ace. As a team, the Bulldogs owned advantages of 43-27 in kills, .232 to .083 in hitting percentage, 65-50 in digs, and 5-1 in aces.
Said Boldt, “We had all six of our attackers pretty even (in kills). Again, great job by our defense. Becca dug a lot of balls tonight, and I thought Ashley did a good job with that as well … We’ve been wanting another shot to play them (Northwestern). I think that we’ve earned it. We have to go out there and play well and see where it goes.”
Midland (17-11) will look forward to playing at the national tournament once again. The Warriors were tripped up in all three of this season’s meetings with Concordia. Seward High School product Abbey Ringler came away with five kills and four blocks on Wednesday.
For the second year in a row, the Bulldogs will be headed to Orange City, Iowa, for the GPAC tournament championship match. First serve from the Bultman Center is set for 7 p.m. CT in what will be a matchup between the NAIA’s Nos. 1 and 2 teams in this week’s coaches’ poll. The postseason path for the GPAC regular season champion Red Raiders (29-0) has included wins over College of Saint Mary and Hastings. In the lone meeting this regular season, Northwestern outlasted Concordia in five sets in Seward.