SEWARD, Neb. – On Monday (Nov. 14) afternoon, the Concordia University Volleyball team learned of its draw for the 2023 NAIA National Championship Opening Round. An automatic national qualifier, the Bulldogs will host Judson University (Ill.), a member of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, on Saturday as one of 24 opening round matches across the NAIA landscape. This marks the third-straight season that Concordia has earned an opening round host bid. In previous years, the Bulldogs welcomed Ave Maria University (Fla.) (2021) and Florida College (2022) to town for opening round matches.
NAIA National Championship Opening Round
Concordia (23-3) vs. Judson (23-4)
--Saturday, Nov. 18 | 1 p.m. CT | Friedrich Arena (Seward, Neb.)
--104.9 Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats
--Admission: $10 for adults/senior citizens, $5 for college/high school students and youth; only those with NAIA passes are admitted free of charge.
--Buy advance tickets via https://www.cune.edu/athletics/tickets.
Head Coach Ben Boldt and lead assistant Angie Boldt have guided the program to a fifth-straight national tournament appearance. A win on Saturday would push Concordia to the national tournament final site for the fifth year in a row. The bar has been set high by the 2020 and 2021 squads that both reached the NAIA national quarterfinals. The Bulldogs garnered the No. 4 overall seed and qualified for the 2023 national tournament via an automatic bid (GPAC tournament runner up). Concordia shared the GPAC regular season title with Northwestern and Jamestown and will carry an overall record of 23-3 into the opening round. Over the past five years, the Bulldogs have won a combined 10 times at the national tournament. This will be the fourth time in program history that Concordia has hosted an opening round match.
Judson celebrated a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2023. The Eagles, who reside in Elgin, Ill., own an overall record of 23-4 after placing as the runner up in the CCAC postseason tournament. Judson accomplished these feats under the direction of a first-year head coach in Alyssa Serewicz-Wido, a Concordia University Chicago alum. While the Bulldogs are known for having a powerful offensive attack, the Eagles possess some firepower of their own. They will enter Saturday’s match ranked ninth nationally in hitting percentage (.254). Three Judson attackers have piled up more than 200 kills this season: Alyssa Gerzel (333), Emmaline Davey (264) and Kara Wicklund (219). This will be the first national tournament appearance in the program's history.
The Matchup
--National ranking in parentheses
Concordia
Head Coach: Ben Boldt, 6th season
Record: 23-3, 14-2 GPAC (T-1st)
SOS: 7th (Massey Ratings)
Hitting %: .265 (7th)
Kills/set: 14.69 (1st)
Blocks/set: 2.10 (T-43rd)
Digs/set: 17.93 (35th)
Aces/set: 1.43 (T-135th)
Kills: Ashley Keck – 303 (3.56/set)
Blocks: Gabi Nordaker – 104 (1.18/set)
Assists: Bree Burtwistle – 1,048 (11.78/set)
Digs: Rebecca Gebhardt – 368 (4.13/set)
Aces: Bree Burtwistle – 29 (0.33/set)
Judson
Head Coach: Alyssa Serewicz-Wido, 1st season
Record: 23-4, 13-1 CCAC (1st)
SOS: 166th (Massey Ratings)
Hitting %: .254 (T-9th)
Kills/set: 13.00 (T-29th)
Blocks/set: 1.44 (T-152nd)
Digs/set: 16.44 (T-77th)
Aces/set: 1.77 (T-60th)
Kills: Alyssa Gerzel – 333 (3.74/set)
Blocks: Emmaline Davey – 63 (0.72/set)
Assists: Lindsay Lawlor – 966 (10.39/set)
Digs: Kenia Diaz Vega – 489 (5.26/set)
Aces: Kenia Diaz Vega – 39 (0.42/set)
National Tournament Facts/Game Notes
· Concordia will be making the sixth national tournament appearance in program history. The 2015 squad became the first Bulldog volleyball edition to qualify for nationals. The ’15 squad was defeated in the opening round while hosting Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.). Then in 2019, Concordia broke through with an advancement to the national round of 16 and claimed the program’s first two national tournament victories – over Montana Tech and the University of Saint Mary (Kan.).
· The 2020 team took things a step further by reaching the NAIA national quarterfinals. The path to the quarterfinals included wins over Xavier University of Louisiana (opening round), Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) and No. 7 Marian University (Ind.). The run ended with a loss to Dordt. The 2021 squad also advanced to the NAIA national quarterfinals. Entering this year’s national tournament, the Bulldogs are 10-6 all-time at the national tournament.
· At last season’s national tournament, the fourth-ranked Bulldogs were tripped up in pool play by 13th-ranked Park University (Mo.) in four sets. As a result, the Pirates advanced to the NAIA national quarterfinals while the season for Concordia came to an end with a 25-6 overall record. Prior to the loss to Park, the Bulldogs posted national tournament wins over Florida College in the opening round and Hastings as part of pool play.
· Boldt’s crew has plenty of experience on the national stage. The Bulldogs return 12 players that were part of the 2022 national tournament roster. This will be the fifth national tournament for fifth-year Bulldog Camryn Opfer and the fourth national tournament for teammates Bree Burtwistle and Gabi Nordaker. The Seward High School product Opfer has shined on the national stage. She was named to the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament Team in both 2020 and 2021. Opfer had a match to remember in the 2021 national tournament win over No. 2 Viterbo when she racked up 21 kills and hit .514 from the outside. As part of that same ’21 run, Nordaker posted 15 kills and seven blocks in a four-set win over Oregon Tech. Others with on-court national tournament experience are Rebecca Gebhardt, Ashley Keck, Addie Kirkegaard, Cassidy Knust, Lexie Kreizel, Carly Rodaway, and Ashlyn Wischmeier.
· Concordia owns wins over seven teams that qualified for the 2023 national tournament: College of Saint Mary, Jamestown (twice), Kansas Wesleyan University, Midland (twice), Morningside, Park and Rocky Mountain College (Mont.). Six GPAC teams have qualified for the national tournament and five of them will be hosting in the opening round. The national tournament field is made up of 34 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections.
· Opfer has appeared in 15 of the program’s 16 all-time national tournament matches. Opfer has produced 195 kills and 231 digs over her 15 career national tournament matches (both school records). On the program’s overall all-time lists, Opfer has jumped to No. 3 for both kills (1,529) and digs (1,630). Opfer is one of three Bulldogs in school history to have recorded 1,500 kills. Other Concordia players to have hit milestones this season include Burtwistle (3,000 assists), Nordaker (1,000 kills) and Gebhardt (1,000 digs). With 446 career blocks, Nordaker has pulled even with Renae Beikmann (1992-95) for third in school history in that category.
· The shared GPAC regular season title marked another achievement to check off the list in the six seasons that Ben and Angie Boldt have led the program. Many other firsts have been accomplished under the Boldts’ leadership, including the program’s first time reaching the NAIA national quarterfinals and the first No. 1 national ranking. The Boldts took over prior to the start of the 2018 season and have proceeded to lead the Bulldogs to season-by-season win totals of 15, 25, 18, 19, 25 and 23, respectively. From a national perspective, Concordia has never been in a more prominent position. It’s a continuation of successful seasons that have seen the Bulldogs finish with national rankings of 14th in 2019, eighth in 2020, sixth in 2021 and fourth in 2022. Ben Boldt enters the 2023 national tournament with a record of 125-46 (.731) at the helm of the program.
The final site
The 24 opening round winners will advance to action at the final site, the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Final site volleyball starts with three days of pool play from November 29 – December 1. The top team of each pool will advance to the elimination bracket, starting with the quarterfinals, on Saturday, December 2. The semifinals will be played on Monday, December 4, and the national champion will be crowned Tuesday, December 5, with the first serve set for 7 p.m. CST on ESPN3. For more details on the national championship, visit the NAIA volleyball home page HERE. Pool play assignments will be announced on Sunday after all opening round contests have concluded.