SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The layoff appeared to have little effect on the fourth-seeded Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team as it resumed national tournament action on Wednesday (Dec. 4) from the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The Bulldogs were sharp from the first serve and shook off a hiccup in the third set while defeating No. 21 seed The Master’s University (Calif.), 25-19, 25-11, 24-26, 25-21, in NAIA National Championship Pool Play. Concordia got it done with the help of 14 kills from Ella Waters and superior defensive play.
The victory marked the 14th all-time for Head Coach Ben Boldt’s program on the national stage. The Bulldogs are in the midst of their sixth-straight trip to the final site in Sioux City.
“There was a lot of defensive prep for this one,” Boldt said. “They run a quick set out to their pins, so we adjusted our block to scoot out to the pins a little bit more and not get so sucked in. I thought we did a really good job of executing that. Offensively, we can be better, but I do think that we were pretty balanced. Ashley (Keck) didn’t necessarily get her efficiency today, but she grinded through it. Ella (Waters) really stepped up offensively. That was really cool to see. Everybody contributed when it mattered. It was a full team win.”
Concordia has the look of a team determined to make it out of pool play and add to the two national quarterfinal advancements in school history. In the matchup with The Master’s, located in Santa Clarita, Calif., the Bulldogs delivered the first blow while flummoxing the Mustangs (21-7). Ava Greene and Addie Kirkegaard were both in on eight blocks while focusing intently on TMU’s pin hitters. The Mustangs hit in the red in set No. 1 and then .083 in set No. 2 before making the adjustment.
The opening set featured a stretch of three-straight blocks from Kirkegaard followed immediately by an ace from Ashlyn Wischmeier. Concordia jumped out to leads of 16-6 in the first set and 12-6 in the second. To its credit, TMU fought off a potential match point in the third set and forced a fourth when Ruby Duncan’s attack landed for a kill. The Mustangs rely largely upon Duncan (19 kills) and Grace Colburn (20 kills) for their attacking production.
As Boldt mentioned, the Bulldogs did not put forth their best offensive outing, but they still managed to hit .281 (compared to .137 for TMU). Waters needed only 23 attempts to rack up 14 kills. It was Waters who ended the match with a kill. Five of her teammates supplied at least seven kills: Keck (11), Gabi Nordaker (eight), Kya Scott (eight), Greene (seven) and Kirkegaard (seven). Becca Gebhardt (two aces) led the back row with 20 digs and the setter duo of Savannah Shelburne (23 assists) and Lily Psencik (20 assists) combined for 43 assists.
A major difference was Concordia’s 11-3 blocking advantage. Said Kirkegaard of the team’s blocking efforts, “A lot of it is scouting, but we have a mindset that we want to do everything we can up at the block so our back row doesn’t have to work as hard … it’s a little nerve-racking (at the final site), but we talked about turning our nerves into gratitude. A lot of teams don’t get to be here. We’re grateful that we are and we have a chance to go for a national title.”
Boldt appreciated the way his team responded after missing out on a chance to end the match in three sets. Said Boldt, “It was tough for us losing the third set, 26-24, and it was real tight there at the end. We could have gone downhill mentally and started making errors, but we didn’t do that. I called a timeout in the fourth set and said, ‘Hey, this stuff happens sometimes. Who we are is a gritty team. We come back to our core values and our theme for the year.”
The Bulldogs can ensure themselves a spot in the national quarterfinals with a win in their second and final pool play match. Friday’s matchup with 13th-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) (30-4) is slated for 1 p.m. CT from the Tyson Events Center. Live coverage from Sioux City is being provided by 104.9 Max Country and NAIANetwork.com.