As Head Coach Ben Boldt remarked late in the 2024 season, “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be gritty.” In other words, Boldt felt supreme confidence in the makeup and character of a squad that was never going to give in. No matter the postseason results, the ’24 Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team could feel satisfied because it knew it had lived up to what it aspired to be: a gritty team built on its core values of love, trust, hard work and sacrifice.
Of course disappointment was felt when the Bulldogs were eliminated from the national tournament in the quarterfinals. One more victory would have made this Concordia team the first in program history to ever reach the semifinals. When the dust settled, Boldt and company were left to process another season of high achievement for a program with remarkable staying power amongst the NAIA’s elites.
“It was a great experience,” Ben Boldt said of the national tournament. “I think our team was ready to go and mentally prepared for everything. I think we played really well in pool play. The match to clinch our pool was one of the cleanest matches we played all year. It was awesome to see us be in that moment. We hit the quarterfinal round and played a really tight, competitive match against Bellevue. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we were competing. We talk about having joy and getting back to competing throughout the match. I thought we did a good job of that. We weren’t tight in the moment or anything like that. I’m just proud of our team.”
The five-set defeat at the hands of eventual national runner up Bellevue meant the Bulldogs finished 2024 with a final overall record of 27-4. The seventh Concordia team guided by Ben and Angie Boldt broke school records for highest overall winning percentage (.871) and most GPAC wins (15) in a single season. In addition, the Bulldogs spent the entire season ranked in the NAIA’s top five (peaking at No. 2) and impressively reloaded after saying goodbye to 2023 All-Americans Bree Burtwistle and Camryn Opfer. In their absence, outside hitter Ashley Keck rose to another level of stardom and Gabi Nordaker was her usual efficient self in the middle. The offensive attack remained one of the nation’s best as Concordia broke in a 6-2 system led by setters Lily Psencik and Savannah Shelburne.
“We’re close – we’re really close,” is what Ben Boldt told attendees at the Bulldog Athletic Association Member luncheon on Dec. 10. That comment came after Boldt informed the crowd that the national championship match later that night would feature Indiana Wesleyan and Bellevue. It ended with a confetti celebration for Indiana Wesleyan, an opponent Concordia knocked off in five sets back in August. The Bulldogs also played two pulse-pounding five-setters with Northwestern, which lost only one match all season.
Throughout the journey, the Bulldogs rallied around the theme of ‘grit’ in what they called their ‘Kobe Year’ (in honor of NBA legend Kobe Bryant having worn No. 24). Said Boldt, “I thought they really embraced it throughout the entire year. One of the ways we have defined it is the ability to know that something good is going to happen even if the last thing that happened wasn’t so good. We were able to put ourselves in a position to be present in the moment with a competitive mindset and not get too far into the future. I feel like this team was locked in with that. We were gritty. There were times when we had to dig deep and come back from a deficit. I think we really lived up to that theme this year.”
Individually, six Bulldogs were named all-conference honorees, including first teamers in Keck, Nordaker and sophomore pin hitter Ella Waters, a major addition via Washburn University. Second team accolades went to junior right side Addie Kirkegaard and honorable mention status was earned by senior libero Becca Gebhardt and junior setter Savannah Shelburne. The junior class proved it was ready to step forward and take on larger roles while doing it effectively. The group included Kya Scott, a 5-foot-7 outside hitter who packs a punch. In the middle, Ava Greene burst onto the scene as a rising sophomore. On the program’s all-time lists, Nordaker moved to third in blocks (597) and fourth in kills (1,433) while Gebhardt climbed to No. 3 in digs (1,701) and Keck ascended to No. 11 in kills (979) with another year to play.
On the national stage, Keck made her presence known and was chosen to the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament team. As a junior, the Kearney, Neb., native totaled a team high 379 kills and added 409 digs while hitting a robust .231. The Boldts often found creative ways to use Keck’s attacking talents to move her off the pins at certain moments.
“There are teams that are going to focus on her and try to take her out of what she wants to do,” Ben Boldt said. “I thought she played even and balanced throughout the tournament. Teams are always trying to serve her, and I thought she had the best passing game that she’s had all season versus Bellevue in the quarterfinals. To see her do that really speaks to her competitive mindset. Obviously she gets kills. We’re able to move her around. She’s not always just hitting on the outside. We’ll move her to hit a ball in the middle, or we can put her on the right side. I think she had a great tournament. She was up to the challenge.”
One of the program’s all-time greats, Nordaker returned in 2024 for a ‘COVID year’ and has exhausted her collegiate eligibility. On senior day, the program honored six student-athletes: Gebhardt and Knust along with Kelsi Heard, Macy McClain, Delaney Novy and Ashlyn Wischmeier. It’s a class that contributed significantly in the back row and as servers, passers and leaders.
“They mean a lot,” Boldt said. “They were a great group in terms of leadership. Whenever we needed anything, they held us accountable and they had care as a group across the board. They showed the team what it means to be a Bulldog, and I think that legacy is going to last for a really long time. There are a lot of back row players in that group. There’s a lot of serving and a lot of passing in that group, along with Gabi, who has been a force at the net for us. Time moves on and people find a place. I do think the legacy they leave is one that can be looked up to from the other classes. That’s what it means to be a Bulldog. That’s what we’re going to take away from this group.”
The consistent winning stands out, but the 2024 Bulldogs were special for more than what occurred on the court. From August through December, Concordia always appeared to be a team full of people who enjoyed being around each other and cared for each other. In the aftermath of the quarterfinal heartbreaker, Ben Boldt discussed how the players did not want to take their jerseys off. They weren’t ready for the end. They wanted to continue making memories together.
Those cherished moments included the making of TikToks with the head coach. Days after the season ended, Gebhardt and Psencik wrapped up Ben Boldt’s office in Christmas wrapping paper. The season also included celebrations like the water bottle shower in the locker room after the win over Indiana Wesleyan and the dogpile that came after the Bulldogs had clinched their pool at the national tournament.
Those moments will live on as Concordia soon turns the page and looks ahead to 2025. With so many key players returning, the Bulldogs will harbor aspirations of reaching the national tournament final site for a seventh-straight year. Concordia is one of only five NAIA volleyball programs to have advanced to the national quarterfinals at least three times in the past five seasons.
“We love what the spring season does,” Boldt said regarding the offseason. “We’re able to work on some small group stuff and individual stuff. It’s getting better type stuff. I love training fundamentals. When we do that, our team gets better. We get to pour into our players and just focus on getting better. That’s what we have coming up. We’ll have a Christmas break before we get back at it. When we do, we’re going to go hard. One of our core values is ‘hard work.’ It really starts in January and culminates with what we do in December. I’m looking forward to starting that journey in 2025.”