JAMESTOWN, N.D. – To this point, Jamestown remains a riddle that the Concordia University Volleyball program has been unable to solve. The second-ranked Jimmies blitzed the sixth-ranked Bulldogs in the first set and then won a hotly contested third set before running away with the fourth. Jamestown effectively neutralized Concordia’s national leading attack and triumphed, 25-11, 24-26, 27-25, 25-16, in North Dakota on Friday (Oct. 7) night.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad has fallen only twice this season with the defeats coming at the hands of teams currently ranked second and third, respectively, in the current NAIA national poll. The Bulldogs stand at 7-2 in league play (16-2 overall) as they slip two losses behind the Jimmies (19-1, 7-0 GPAC).
“They’re a great team. Credit to them,” Boldt said. “They served us tough and we weren’t quite as in-system as we have been all year. It’s definitely something that affected our offense for sure. Defensively, they’re a good team, so it’s tough to get kills against them. I thought their right side did a good job. We’ll take a look at the film, but we just have to get back to the basics and fundamentals.”
The aggressive serve game of Jamestown consistently threw Concordia off its game. The Bulldogs entered the night leading the NAIA with a hitting percentage of .296. However, they were held to an .066 percentage on Friday. Jamestown got 34 digs from back row stalwart Ellie Holen and it out-blocked Concordia, 9-3. Uncharacteristically, the Bulldogs committed 32 hitting errors.
In defeat, Concordia showed the type of mentality that has made it a tough team to beat. The Jimmies fired on all cylinders in the first set, but the Bulldogs responded by taking the second set. With the second knotted, 24-24, an attack error and a Cassidy Knust ace evened the match, 1-1. Down the stretch of the third set, Jamestown made the plays in fending off Concordia, which had come back to tie it, 24-24 and 25-25, after being down 17-10. That set concluded with Tenley Buddenhagen’s ace.
It wasn’t the result the Bulldogs had hoped for, but this is the competition they live for. Perhaps another shot at Jamestown will come later this season. Said Boldt, “I love playing these kinds of matches. They show you who you are. I’m proud we didn’t give up in the match. There were some hard-fought points in there, and we had great effort. We need to own it and get back to work.”
The Jimmies’ ability to keep the Bulldogs out of system made for a tough night on the attack for nearly everyone other than Carly Rodaway. The right side from Lincoln paced Concordia with 14 kills while hitting .367. In a rarity, Gabi Nordaker (seven kills and eight errors) and Camryn Opfer (six kills and 10 errors) both had more errors than kills. Opfer added 15 digs to her stat line. Meanwhile, Bree Burtwistle finished with 31 assists and 12 digs and Knust landed a pair of aces.
This is a monster weekend at home for Jamestown, which will also host No. 3 Midland on Saturday. The Jimmies got a match high 18 kills from Kalli Hegerle, who also posted 26 assists and 10 digs. Anna Holen put away 15 kills. The Jimmies did have 12 service errors, but the miscues were worth the tradeoff in their aggressive approach.
The weekend in the Dakotas will continue on Saturday with a 3 p.m. CT match at No. 15 Dakota Wesleyan (15-4, 6-3 GPAC). The Bulldogs managed to outlast the Tigers in five sets in last season’s meeting in Seward. Concordia will have to contend with star middle Ady Dwight, who entered the weekend averaging 4.65 kills per set.