SEWARD, Neb. – They meet again. As part of a tournament bracket that went chalk, second-seeded Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball is set to clash with top-seeded Northwestern in the 2025 GPAC Championship Match. Both teams are ranked within the top four of the NAIA coaches’ poll. Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad reached the final thanks to postseason home wins over Morningside (straight sets) and No. 20 Midland (four sets). The Bulldogs will take a 24-2 overall record into the matchup with the GPAC regular season champion Red Raiders. Concordia will make its fifth straight GPAC tournament title match appearance.
GPAC Championship Match
Saturday, Nov. 15 at No. 3 Northwestern (27-3, 16-0 GPAC), 7 p.m.
--Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Bultman Center (Orange City, Iowa)
--Admission: $10 for adults/senior citizens, $3 for K-12; only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s are admitted free of charge.
By the numbers
· In the conference semifinals, the Bulldogs were tasked with attempting to defeat 20th-ranked Midland for the third time this season. Concordia shook off a first set downer and won, 22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-20. The Bulldogs owned team statistical advantages in hitting percentage, .281 to .199, kills, 64-58, aces, 7-2, and blocks, 7-5. Strong efforts in serve and pass led to monster performances on the pins from Ashley Keck (22 kills, .380) and Ella Waters (17 kills, .333). Keck added 23 digs, two aces and a block to her stat line. It was also a fine night for senior setter Savannah Shelburne, who posted 34 assists, 11 digs and two aces while sharing the role with fellow senior Lily Psencik (20 assists). Ava Greene, Molli Martin and Waters notched three blocks apiece and Emma Brueggemann collected 13 digs.
· Concordia will get another shot at Northwestern, which emerged victorious from Friedrich Arena, 25-9, 16-25, 25-14, 25-21, on Oct. 10. Prior to that meeting, five of the previous six Concordia-Northwestern matchups had gone to five sets. The 2023 and 2024 GPAC Championship Match battles were both won by the Red Raiders in five sets (in Orange City). In last year’s championship tilt in Orange City, Northwestern won the fifth set, 15-11, and improved to 30-0 at the time. The now graduated Jazlin Douma blasted 33 kills in that contest. The Bulldogs were led by the 12 kills from Kya Scott.
· The 22 kills Keck recorded versus Morningside in the quarterfinals represented a career-high for a three-set match. The Kearney Catholic High School product has reached 20 kills five times in her career with four of those performances coming in 2025. Her latest 20-plus kill effort came in the semifinals as she continued her heater. In the two GPAC tournament matches, Keck has put away a combined 44 kills (6.29 per set) on the strength of a .364 hitting percentage. Her overall career high for kills is 26 (in this season’s five-set win at Briar Cliff). In 116 career matches, Keck has totaled 1,357 kills, 1,164 digs, 109 blocks and 26 aces. A 2024 NAIA First Team All-American, Keck is one of five players in program history to reach both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for a career.
· Since the Boldts arrived prior to the start of the 2018 season, the Bulldogs have won 12 GPAC tournament matches (counting this year’s quarterfinal and semifinal triumphs) while also reaching the championship match in each of the previous four years (2021 through 2024). Concordia has advanced to at least the conference semifinals in seven consecutive years dating back to 2019. The Bulldogs lost GPAC tournament title matches to Jamestown in 2021 and 2022 and then to Northwestern in 2023 and 2024. The program also finished as the GPAC tournament runner up in 2015. Concordia shared GPAC regular season titles in 2000 and 2023 but has never claimed the GPAC postseason championship.
· Two matches into the postseason, the Bulldogs’ statistical leaders by category are Ashley Keck in kills (378) and digs (391), Lily Psencik in assists (470), Shandy Faalii in aces (27) and Ava Greene in blocks (114) (Emma Brueggemann is just behind Keck in digs with 386). Besides Keck, four other Concordia players have notched at least 100 kills this season: Ella Waters (227), Molli Martin (158), Greene (137) and Kya Scott (126). Brueggemann ranks No. 3 among GPAC players in digs per set (5.08). Both Greene (1.27) and Martin (1.06) are averaging more than a block per set.
· The Bulldogs remained at No. 4 in the NAIA coaches’ poll released on Wednesday (Nov. 12), marking the 24th consecutive poll that has included them inside the top five. Ranked in front of Concordia are No. 1 Eastern Oregon University, No. 2 University of Providence (Mont.) and No. 3 Northwestern. Eastern Oregon and Northwestern are responsible for Concordia’s two defeats this season. Based on the most recent NAIA top 25, the Bulldogs own six wins over ranked teams: No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan University, No. 17 Viterbo University (Wis.), No. 20 Midland (three times) and No. 25 Dakota Wesleyan. Concordia also defeated MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.), a “receiving votes” team.
The opponent
Northwestern owns an incredible streak of 49 straight wins over GPAC opponents (including the postseason). The Red Raiders have put together back-to-back seasons with perfect 16-0 GPAC regular season records. The only three losses for Northwestern this season have come against nonconference foes: Eastern Oregon, Indiana Wesleyan and Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Since defeating the Bulldogs in four sets on Oct. 10, the Red Raiders have swept each of their next nine GPAC foes. That stretch included their GPAC postseason wins over Mount Marty and Dakota Wesleyan. Northwestern’s star attacker is Stella Winterfeld, who is averaging 4.28 kills per set to go with a .253 hitting percentage. All-American Zavyr Metzger leads the NAIA in blocks per set (1.95). Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch has guided the program to a combined 16 GPAC championships (10 regular season and six postseason) during his 21-year tenure. The Red Raiders placed as the NAIA national runner up in 2023. Northwestern will attempt to win its third straight GPAC tournament title.
2025 GPAC Tournament
Quarterfinals – Saturday, Nov. 8
(1) Northwestern def. (8) Mount Marty, 3-0
(4) Dakota Wesleyan def. (5) Dordt, 3-1
(3) Midland def. (6) College of Saint Mary, 3-0
(2) Concordia def. (7) Morningside, 3-0
Semifinals – Wednesday, Nov. 12
(1) Northwestern def. (4) Dakota Wesleyan, 3-0
(2) Concordia def. (3) Midland, 3-1
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 15
(2) Concordia at (1) Northwestern, 7 p.m.