SEWARD, Neb. – In terms of on-court results, the Concordia University Volleyball program is facing a bit of adversity. The Bulldogs stumbled twice over this past weekend’s road trip up north. The Bulldogs hope to rebound this week while playing at College of Saint Mary on Tuesday before beginning a home swing on Friday. Head Coach Ben Boldt’s program will celebrate a class of eight seniors prior to first serve on Saturday when Morningside will be in town.
This Week
-All three matches will be preceded by junior varsity contests
Tuesday, Oct. 20 at College of Saint Mary (7-5, 2-5 GPAC), 7:30 p.m.
-Live Webcast
Friday, Oct. 23 vs. Briar Cliff (8-11, 3-8 GPAC), 7:30 p.m.
-Live Webcast/Stats | 104.9 Max Country
Saturday, Oct. 24 vs. Morningside (7-6, 6-4 GPAC), 4 p.m. (Senior Day)
-Live Webcast/Stats | 104.9 Max Country
Boldt’s squad is in the midst of the busiest two-week stretch of the regular season. Concordia (7-3 GPAC) played four times last week, including twice at home versus Mount Marty in a rare GPAC doubleheader on Oct. 13. The Bulldogs breezed past the Lancers in straight sets in both matches while hitting a combined .366 with 69 kills (to just 16 errors). As part of the day, senior Tara Callahan surpassed 3,000 assists in her career. Sophomore Camryn Opfer enjoyed a fine day on the attack as she pounded 18 kills while hitting .424.
Unfortunately, Concordia did not have its ‘A’ game this past weekend. The Bulldogs were beaten in three sets at GPAC leading Jamestown (2019 NAIA national semifinalist) on Oct. 16. Concordia allowed a 19-17 lead in the second set to slip away and never recovered. The next day, the Bulldogs dominated the fourth set at Dakota Wesleyan, but conceded the final three points of the match and fell in five sets. Prior to last week, Concordia had no trouble on the road having defeated Midland, Doane and Dordt all in straight sets in enemy territory.
Last week’s results put the Bulldogs in a hole in terms of the GPAC championship race. Concordia is looking up at Jamestown (8-0 GPAC) and Northwestern (8-1 GPAC) in the standings. The Bulldogs still have a shot at outperforming their GPAC mark from last year (11-5) and stating a strong case for another berth in the national tournament (which will be held in the spring of 2021). However, Boldt has conditioned his teams to focus only on the direct challenge ahead. Concordia remains highly rated in Massey Ratings (No. 5 in the NAIA).
The list of 2020-21 seniors can be viewed below. Five of the eight members are on-court contributors to the varsity team while three serve as managers. Among them, Callahan (first team), Marissa Hoerman (honorable mention) and Kara Stark (honorable mention) have garnered past All-GPAC recognition. The senior class has been a rock as the program transitioned under the leadership of coaches Ben and Angie Boldt. The group helped the program move from 9-19 in 2017 to a 25-8 mark and a spot in the national round of 16 in 2019. The Bulldogs are a combined 56-42 since the start of 2017 (47-23 since the start of 2018).
College of Saint Mary is also looking for a rebound having dropped four-straight matches. Head Coach Rick Pruett’s program also appeared at the national tournament in 2019 and was the GPAC tournament runner up. The Flames are hitting .150 compared to a .166 percentage for their opponents. Then this weekend, Concordia will be challenged by the league’s two Sioux City natives. Briar Cliff pushed Northwestern to five sets before falling this past Saturday. The Chargers have managed to play 19 matches (eight nonconference). Grace Hanno has taken advantage and leads the nation with 234 total kills. Lastly, Morningside enters the week on a hot streak with four-straight wins (over Dakota Wesleyan, Dordt, Mount Marty and College of Saint Mary). The Mustangs rank 14th nationally in kills per set (13.4).
Just three matches will remain on the regular season schedule at the conclusion of this week. In next week’s action, the Bulldogs will host both College of Saint Mary on Oct. 28 and Doane on Oct. 29. The regular-season finale will take place at Hastings on Nov. 3.
2020-21 Senior Class
Brooke Baugh (Friend, Neb.)
Tara Callahan (Brady, Neb.)
Maggie Durbin (Omaha, Neb.)
Allison Echtenkamp (Wayne, Neb.)
Marissa Hoerman (Evergreen, Colo.)
Allison Klipp (Tobias, Neb.)
Tristin Mason (Hampton, Neb.)
Kara Stark (Frisco, Texas)