Bulldog Weekly Report (Nov. 19)

By Jacob Knabel on Nov. 19, 2019 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Female: Kara Stark, Volleyball

A junior from Frisco, Texas, Stark led Concordia with 14 kills (on 37 swings) in last week’s GPAC semifinal match at No. 8 Jamestown. Stark ranks third on the team with 249 kills this season for a Bulldog squad bound for the national tournament.

Male: Carter Kent, Basketball

A sophomore from Crete, Neb., takes this honor for the second time in three weeks. Kent scored Concordia’s first 20 points in last week’s victory over Midland. He totaled 38 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Bulldogs (5-1).

2019-20 BAAM Athletes of the Week
Nov. 12 – Mario Ybarra (wrestling) / Kylahn Heritage (cross country)
Nov. 5 – Carter Kent (basketball) / Delani Fahey (basketball)
Oct. 29 – Brevin Sloup (basketball) / Kylahn Heritage (cross country)
Oct. 22 – Camryn Opfer (volleyball)
Oct. 15 – Lane Napier (football) / Marissa Hoerman (volleyball)
Oct. 8 – Caleb Goldsmith (soccer) / Tara Callahan (volleyball)
Oct. 1 – AJ Jenkins (football) / Rebekah Hinrichs (cross country)
Sept. 24 – Derek Tachovsky (football) / Kendra Placke (golf)
Sept. 17 – Moises Jacobo (soccer) / Kara Stark (volleyball)
Sept. 10 – Carlos Orquiz (soccer) / Amie Martin (cross country)
Sept. 3 – Eduardo Alba (soccer) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)

2019-20 BAAM Athletes of the Month
October – Tara Callahan (volleyball) / Lane Napier (football)
September – Derek Tachovsky (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)

News and notes:

Dreams come true for Concordia women’s cross country: A special season is not yet over for Concordia women’s cross country, which will have the honor of competing at the NAIA National Championships this Friday in Vancouver, Wash. Head coach Matt Beisel led the program to its first GPAC title since 2005. Said junior Sydney Clark, “Honestly it means everything to me. Freshman year I made it a goal before I graduated that I wanted to run at nationals. This is making my whole collegiate dream come true.” For more on the 2019 season, click HERE. Additional information about the upcoming championship meet can be found HERE.

Boldt’s Bulldogs earn program’s second ever berth to nationals: As announced on Monday, the Concordia volleyball team has been awarded an at-large bid to the 44-team NAIA National Championship. Thanks to their No. 15 ranking in the NAIA national poll, the Bulldogs have the luxury of bypassing the opening round and will be headed straight to the final site – the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Head coach Ben Boldt’s squad will begin pool play in Sioux City on Tuesday, Dec. 3. In the program’s only other berth to nationals (2015), Concordia fell in the opening round. In other words, this team has made history as the first in school history to advance to the final site. Further details on the national championship can be found HERE.

Rudloff honored by CoSIDA: For the eighth year in a row, the Concordia football program has landed a student-athlete on the Academic All-District Team, as chosen by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). This year’s honoree is senior defensive end Aaron Rudloff, a secondary education major from Battle Creek, Neb. Rudloff enjoyed a monster senior season for head coach Patrick Daberkow. Rudloff led the team with nine sacks.

Bulldog baseball unveils 2020 schedule: The 2020 varsity and junior varsity baseball schedules are now available to the public. Head coach Ryan Dupic’s varsity team is slated to play 28 GPAC games and 22 nonconference games during the 2020 regular season. Concordia is ranked first in the GPAC and received votes nationally in the official fall polls that were released by the NAIA. To view this spring’s schedule, click HERE.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its fourth year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT on KTMX-FM 104.9 Max Country. The weekly feature can also be heard live via 104.9 Max Country’s website or by downloading the Max Country app. Throughout the 2018-19 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country. Tyler Cavalli serves as the host of the coaches’ show as well as the play-by-play voice for football and basketball. Frank Greene is in his fourth season calling Concordia volleyball.

Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting https://www.cune.edu/athletics/watch-bulldogs at game time. Beginning in 2019-20, Concordia Athletics is partnering with PrestoSports for live video and statistical streaming. For more details on this change, click HERE. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.

Volleyball

  • As revealed on Monday, the season is not yet over for the Bulldogs, who have earned a bid to the NAIA National Championship for the second time in program history. Concordia last appeared on the court on Nov. 13 when it was clipped in five sets, 18-25, 25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 15-13, by eighth-ranked Jamestown in the semifinals of the GPAC tournament. Seeded third in the GPAC, the Bulldogs had beaten Doane in the quarterfinals to set up the meeting at Jamestown. Head coach Ben Boldt’s squad will carry an overall record of 23-6 into the national tournament. For more on Concordia volleyball, click HERE.
  • The bid to nationals is a remarkable achievement for a program just two years removed from a 9-19 record in 2017. It may have seemed like a stretch to expect such an accomplishment prior to the start of this season. The Bulldogs went 5-11 in the GPAC last season and were picked eighth in the 2019 GPAC preseason poll. Concordia made believers out of themselves and outsiders with a 12-0 start that included a key nonconference win over a fellow national qualifier in Corban University (Ore.). Massey Ratings has calculated the Bulldogs to be a top 10 NAIA squad for most of this season.
  • The 2019 squad will forever have the distinction of being the first Concordia volleyball team to ever advance to the final site of the NAIA National Championship. It means the careers of four seniors on the postseason roster will be extended by at least three matches. It’s quite a way to go out for the likes of Emmie Noyd, who has enjoyed a stellar career. The native of Shelby, Neb., should attract All-America consideration. Nationally, she ranks 23rd in hitting percentage (.326) and 27th in blocks per set (1.10). In her career, Noyd has accumulated 916 kills and 360 blocks.
  • The Bulldogs have just not quite gotten over the hump this season in two matchups with Jamestown. Concordia lost both in five sets with last week’s contest being the ultimate nail-biter (15-13 in the fifth set). Even in defeat, the Bulldogs displayed their typical balance. Four players had double-digit kill numbers: Kara Stark (14), Noyd (13), Kalee Wiltfong (13) and Camryn Opfer (12). Five Concordia players also had at least 10 digs: Marissa Hoerman (19), Opfer (12), Kaylie Dengel (11), Erin Johnson (11) and Tara Callahan (10).
  • Opfer and Wiltfong could both be in the running for GPAC Freshman of the Year accolades. The two Nebraska natives have certainly had a heavy hand in this season’s success. In 105 sets of action, Opfer has totaled 280 kills (2.67/set), 272 digs (2.59/set) and 39 blocks while hitting .212 from the outside. Meanwhile, Wiltfong has collected 240 kills (2.26/set) and 80 blocks (0.75/set) in 106 sets as a middle blocker.
  • Nine more kills would make sophomore Arleigh Costello the fifth Bulldog to reach 200 kills this season. The others are Noyd (346), Opfer (280), Stark (249) and Wiltfong (240). In other words, Callahan has effectively made use of five main attackers for a squad that sports national rankings of 15th in hitting percentage (.232) and 16th in kills per set (13.53). Noyd ranks fourth in the GPAC in kills per set (3.3).
  • It’s fair to say that Callahan has established herself as one of the top setters in the GPAC. With an average of 10.71 assists per set, the Brady, Neb., native ranks behind only Northwestern’s Lacey Wacker (12.0), among GPAC players. Callahan has won five of the 11 GPAC Setter of the Week awards handed out this fall and was also once named NAIA National Setter of the Week. She stands a strong chance of moving up from honorable mention All-GPAC, as she was named as both a freshman and sophomore.
  • Across the board, Concordia has improved considerably from last season when it went 15-12 overall. The 2018 Bulldogs outhit their opponents, .201 to .189. This year’s team is outhitting its foes, .232 to .155. Concordia is also averaging more kills (13.53 compared to 12.37) and aces (1.59 to 1.32) per set than it did a year ago.
  • As a team headed for the final site of the NAIA Volleyball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, the Bulldogs will bypass the opening round that will take place this Saturday. They will wait until pool play (Dec. 3-5) to return to action. The pool assignments will be announced after the opening round is finished. The 32 teams that make the final site are arranged in eight pools with the top two teams from each pool advancing to a 16-team bracket.

Cross Country

  • It was a celebratory Saturday (Nov. 9) in Sioux Center, Iowa, where the Concordia women’s cross country team captured a GPAC title for the first time since 2005. The trophy-winning performance means the Bulldog women’s program will be headed to the NAIA national championships for the first time since 2011. Meanwhile, the Concordia men placed fifth at the GPAC Championships. Head coach Matt Beisel’s teams have competed in six meets in this 2019 season. For more on Bulldog cross country, click HERE.
  • The rise to the top has been a rewarding journey for the women’s program, which has a storied history that included three NAIA national runner up finishes in a four-year period (2000 through 2004). Prior to 2019, Concordia had not placed higher than fourth in the GPAC since a second-place finish in 2012. The Bulldogs began this fall ranked third in the GPAC with perennially strong Dordt pegged as the favorite. A major breakthrough came at the Dean White Invite on Sept. 28 when Concordia won the meet and beat out Dordt. As a result, the Bulldogs rose to the top of the GPAC ratings and moved into the NAIA national poll.
  • Concordia wound up beating Dordt by nine points (39-48) at the GPAC Championships. The Bulldogs outpaced the field while placing seven individuals inside the top 20, including four that earned All-GPAC honors (top 15 earn such distinction). Concordia’s top 20 finishers were freshman Kylahn Heritage (18:30.48; 2nd), junior Alyssa Fye (18:52.32; 4th), senior Rebekah Hinrichs (18:55.03; 5th), junior Sydney Clark (19:19.74; 12th), junior Lydia Cook (19:28.41; 16th), sophomore Abi DeLoach (19:33.87; 18th) and senior Hannah Rebmann (19:39.22; 20th).
  • The NAIA released new national ratings on Monday, Nov. 11. The Bulldogs landed at No. 19, marking their fourth-straight poll appearance. Concordia first broke into the rankings at No. 17 on Oct. 3, slipped to No. 19 on Oct 17 and then moved to 20th on Oct. 31 prior to their current position. Prior to cracking the NAIA top 25 this season, the Bulldogs had not appeared in the rankings since 2015.
  • The men’s program will have to wait until at least 2020 before earning a GPAC title for the first time since 2012. Concordia’s point total at last week’s conference meet settled in at 124 points, three behind fourth-place Northwestern. Dordt (28 points) took the title on the men’s side. Since 2012, the Bulldog men’s GPAC finishes have been third, fifth, fourth, sixth, sixth, fourth and fifth, respectively.
  • Sophomore Wyatt Lehr collected All-GPAC accolades for the second year in a row by running to a 15th-place finish. He clocked in at 25:59.84 while navigating the 8k course on Dordt’s campus. The rest of the team’s top seven featured junior Jordan Lorenz (26:24.73; 19th), freshman Camden Sesna (26:50.65; 27th), freshman Owen Dawson (27:20.43; 35th), freshman Antonio Blaine (27:29.23; 39th), sophomore Ethan Pankow (27:50.77; 48th) and junior Christian Watters (28:25.39; 58th).
  • It’s championship week for NAIA cross country. On the women’s side, the meet is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. CT on Friday from Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash. Beisel’s nationals roster will feature eight individuals, including one alternate (seven runners will compete). For more details on the meet, visit the NAIA cross country website HERE.

Women’s Basketball

  • The top-ranked Bulldogs have already gone to work in re-asserting their dominance within the GPAC. Concordia’s aim for a fourth-straight GPAC regular-season title is off to a good start thanks to wins last week by scores of 93-70 over Midland and 113-59 over Briar Cliff. The Bulldogs have only been challenged seriously in one of their first six outings. Head coach Drew Olson’s team is now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in GPAC play. For more information on Concordia women’s basketball, click HERE.
  • Even for an Olson-led team, the scoring outbursts produced so far are eye-popping. Entering this season, seven of the past eight Bulldog squads averaged more than 80 points per game. The school record for scoring average in a season is 87.1 by the 2017-18 team that finished as a national runner up. So far this season, Concordia has already cracked 100 points four times and is averaging 101.0 per game. The 123 points the Bulldogs scored versus Simpson University (Calif.) is believed to be a school record for a single game.
  • Concordia squeaked out a 63-62 overtime win over No. 2 Southeastern University (Fla.) on Oct. 26 but other than that, it has had little trouble at all. Not only are the Bulldogs ranked second nationally in scoring average, they lead all NAIA Division II teams in scoring margin (+45.7) and turnover margin (+16.2). The turnovers were plentiful last week with Concordia taking it away from Midland 37 times and Briar Cliff 40 times. The Bulldogs have won games this season by margins of 57, 78, 61, 23 and 54 points, respectively.
  • Not surprisingly, the blowouts have resulted in the minutes be spread out generously throughout the roster. Senior point guard Grace Barry is taking full advantage of her 21.5 minutes per game (most on the team). Last week she totaled 29 points, 18 assists, eight steals and seven rebounds. Barry is the team’s catalyst and a tone setter on both ends of the floor. She has a sterling assist-to-turnover ratio of 35-to-11 so far this season. She is also averaging 12.3 points per game.
  • Senior Philly Lammers, a three-time All-American, had her largest offensive output of the season so far in the game against Midland. She put up 26 points while making 12-of-17 shots from the floor and just missed a double-double (nine rebounds). She then notched 11 points versus Briar Cliff. Lammers is on a streak of four-straight games with at least four steals. Also noteworthy is that Lammers now ranks eighth on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,657 career points after passing Kristen Conahan last week.
  • Plenty of Concordia’s role players can shoot the three. The opposition may have another sharpshooter to worry about after freshman Taylor Farrell went 4-for-6 from long range in the win over Briar Cliff. Each of Farrell’s treys were taken from well beyond the 3-point arc. Delani Fahey and Taryn Schuette also knocked in four 3-point field goals apiece in that win. The Bulldogs began the game versus Briar Cliff by making only 2-of-20 3-point attempts. They then made 17 of their final 34 tries from long distance.
  • The active win streak for the program has reached 18. That figure includes the 12-straight wins to finish off last season’s national championship run. Olson’s program is no stranger to lengthy win streaks. The 2017-18 squad began the year at 24-0 before finally suffering a loss. Prior to that, in 2016-17, Concordia dropped its first game of the season and then won its next 26. The longest win streak in program history remains the 33-gamer put together by the 2002-03 squad coached by Todd Voss.
  • To continue with the video game numbers, the Bulldogs rank very high nationally in virtually every major category. Among NAIA Division II teams, Concordia ranks first in steals per game (26.2), first in scoring margin (+45.7), first in turnover margin (+16.2), second in 3-point field goals per game (12.8), second in scoring average (101.0), third in field goal percentage defense (.305), eighth in field goal percentage offense (.484), ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.24) and 14th in defensive scoring average (55.3).
  • The Bulldogs will play only one game that will count towards their official record. They will host College of Saint Mary (1-5, 0-2 GPAC) at 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday. Then on Saturday, Concordia will be in Denver for a 1 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. CT tipoff at NCAA Division II Metropolitan State University (Colo.). That contest will be considered an exhibition for both teams.

Wrestling

  • The second week of the 2019-20 season brought the first dual for the Bulldogs, defending co-GPAC regular-season champions. In the only outing of last week, 18th-ranked Concordia defeated Northwestern, 29-10, inside Walz Arena on Nov. 15. Head coach Levi Calhoun’s squad had opened the season at the Dakota Wesleyan University Open in Mitchell, S.D., on Nov. 9. For more on Bulldog wrestling, click HERE.
  • Last week’s victory was a continuation of Concordia’s run of success in conference duals. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Bulldogs are 34-4 in conference duals. That stretch included three-straight seasons of 7-0 GPAC dual records from 2014-15 through 2016-17. The run also has included four GPAC regular-season titles and three GPAC/NAIA North Qualifier championships. Former head coach Dana Vote began that run (first season in 2012-13). Vote is now the head coach at Doane.
  • Concordia emerged with victories in seven of the 10 matches with the Red Raiders. Three of those wins came in particularly dominant fashion. Heavyweight Michael Stann erased a 10-9 team deficit when he pinned Skyler Bonestroo in the first period. At 125, sophomore Mario Ybarra followed suit with a pin of Sean Heeney in the second period. The impressive run continued with 133-pounder Zack Moistner defeating Noah Kryfka by technical fall, 16-0.
  • An additional four Bulldogs won by decision: sophomore Gad Huseman (149), junior Gabe Crawford (157), senior Deandre Chery (174) and senior Chris Kimball (141). Chery is a two-time GPAC champion and a two-time national qualifier. Kimball qualified for the 2018 national tournament. From a rankings standpoint, Kimball had the best victory with his 5-2 decision over No. 19 Dante Preciado.
  • Calhoun has the luxury of rolling out a deep lineup full of nationally-ranked grapplers. Calhoun’s lineup versus Northwestern included six competitors with national rankings: No. 14 Ybarra (125), No. 10 Moistner (133), No. 10 Kimball (141), No. 15 Huseman (149), No. 12 Chery (174) and No. 12 Stann (285). All six won their matches last week. Collectively, they helped make the Bulldogs the GPAC’s highest rated team in the preseason.
  • In the early going, Kimball and Ybarra lead the team with six wins apiece. Both Bulldogs collected five wins at the Dakota Wesleyan Open, where Kimball placed fourth at 141 and Ybarra placed third at 125. Ybarra fell short of making the national tournament last season, but could be poised to do so in 2020. The native of Scottsbluff, Neb., already has a quality victory under his belt having defeated 12th-ranked Braedon Clopton (No. 1 in the GPAC at 125) of Briar Cliff at the Dakota Wesleyan Open.
  • It was a unique dynamic last week for assistant coach Tyree Cox, who went up against his alma mater and the program he worked at for three seasons. A native of Lancaster, Calif., Cox wrestled for two seasons at Northwestern and twice qualified for the NAIA national championships. He went 28-9 his senior season for the Red Raiders. Cox joined Calhoun’s staff and replaced Junior Lule, who left for a new opportunity.
  • Concordia is back to tournament action this week with the University of Nebraska-Kearney Open set to unfold this Saturday. Matches will begin at 9 a.m. CT in Kearney, Neb. In the season opening tournament at Dakota Wesleyan, the Bulldogs notched three place finishes and a total of 29 wins.

Men’s Basketball

  • Concordia came within an eyelash of remaining unbeaten as it began conference play last week. The Bulldogs routed Midland, 95-71, on Nov. 12 and then lost on a buzzer beater to Briar Cliff, 70-69, on Nov. 16. Both contests were played inside Walz Arena. Head coach Ben Limback’s squad had been 5-0 for the first time in his seven seasons leading Concordia, which is now 5-1 overall (1-1 GPAC). For more information on Bulldog men’s basketball, click HERE.
  • Despite the heartbreak against Briar Cliff, Concordia is proving to be a much better squad than the one that took the court in 2018-19. The Bulldogs really never gave Midland a chance in last week’s GPAC opener. Concordia led 47-24 at halftime and wound up shooting 56.5 percent (35-for-62) overall and 42.1 percent (16-for-38) from 3-point range. Four Bulldogs reached double figures in scoring: Carter Kent (28), Brevin Sloup (15), AJ Watson (14) and Tanner Shuck (13). Seven Concordia players hit at least one 3-point shot.
  • A corner trey from Nick Hoyt at the buzzer kept Concordia from getting to 6-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 squad started out 13-0. Rather unfortunately, Hoyt also knocked down a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to cut into what had been a 10-point lead for the Bulldogs. Concordia then built its lead back up to eight points with less than 4:30 left to play before going cold offensively down the stretch. Sloup led the way with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting. The rest of the team was just 18-for-47 from the field.
  • There’s no way to know for sure, but Kent is likely the program’s first player ever to score each of his team’s first 20 points in a game. The Crete native managed to accomplish that feat against Midland while putting up his 20 points over a period of 6:36 of game time. Kent finished with a career high 28 points while going 11-for-15 from the floor. He also added six assists. Named the GPAC Freshman of the Year last season, Kent is averaging 13.2 points per game.
  • Unfortunately, last week wasn’t the first time Concordia has experienced heartache at the buzzer in a game played inside Walz Arena. Similar situations occurred twice recently. Nebraska Wesleyan beat Concordia, 89-88, on a 3-pointer by Cole Kingsporn at the buzzer on Dec. 2, 2015. Three years later, Mount Marty’s Colby Johnson hurled in a long three at the buzzer to top the Bulldogs, 70-69. At CIT in 2016, Concordia avoided heartbreak when DeShawn Robinson of CU-Wisconsin misfired on a 3-point attempt at the buzzer in an 86-85 championship win.
  • If there was anything to salvage from the Briar Cliff game it was that Concordia held the Chargers to more than 22 points below their season scoring average. From a statistical standpoint, the Bulldogs have been a strong defensive team. Among all NAIA Division II squads, they rank 12th in defensive scoring average (66.2), 13th in field goal percentage defense (.395) and 25th in blocked shots per game (3.67). Concordia has held each of its first six opponents to 71 points or less.
  • Chuol Biel has been a major reason why the Bulldogs rank highly in blocked shots. He is averaging 2.0 per game after having swatted six shots last week. The Grand Island native is noticeably physically stronger this season and the offseason work appears to have paid off. Biel is averaging 6.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as the team’s most reliable presence in the paint. Last season Biel led the GPAC with an average of 1.43 blocks per game.
  • Much of the offense is perimeter-oriented for Concordia, which has hoisted 173 3-point attempts through six games. When the ‘big three’ are clicking, the Bulldogs are tough team to beat. Sloup (18.5), Shuck (13.3) and Kent (13.2) are each averaging more than 13 points per game. With Justin Wiersema sidelined, transfer Sam Scarpelli has joined them in the starting lineup. Scarpelli is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game.
  • Concordia will take a break from GPAC play this week while making road trips within the state of Nebraska. The Bulldogs will be headed to NCAA Division II Wayne State College tonight (Nov. 19) for a 7 p.m. CT exhibition game. Concordia’s next official game will be on Saturday when it plays at Nebraska Christian College, where action will get started at 4 p.m.