Concordia placed in Pool B along with Oregon Tech, Viterbo

By Jacob Knabel on Nov. 21, 2021 in Volleyball

NAIA Release

Pool Play Matches
Nov. 30 – vs. Oregon Tech, 3 p.m. (Court 2)
Dec. 1 – vs. Viterbo (Wis.), 10:30 a.m. (Court 3)

SEWARD, Neb. – One of 24 teams remaining in the NAIA national championship field, the Concordia University Volleyball team learned of its NAIA pool play assignment on Sunday (Nov. 21). The Bulldogs have been grouped with second-ranked Viterbo University (Wis.) and 25th-ranked Oregon Tech as part of Pool B in the 2021 NAIA Volleyball National Championship. For the third season in a row, Head Coach Ben Boldt will lead the program to the final site of the tournament. Seven GPAC teams will make their way to Sioux City, Iowa for pool play.

The number of teams at the final site shrunk from 32 teams as recently as 2019 to 24 teams beginning in 2020. Those 24 squads have been separated into eight groupings for pool play that will take place Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. The Tyson has served as the host for the NAIA Volleyball National Championship since 2008. Because of postponements caused by COVID-19, the national tournament was staged in late April/early May this past spring.

Concordia (17-11) earned an automatic berth to the national tournament via its runner up finish in the GPAC tournament. While hosting an opening round match on Saturday, the Bulldogs defeated Ave Maria University (Fla.), 25-12, 25-23, 25-19. The Bulldogs got starring performances from the right side with Arleigh Costello and Carly Rodaway both putting away 11 kills. Concordia’s statistical leaders this season are Camryn Opfer in kills (344) and digs (333), Tara Callahan in assists (1,043), Gabi Nordaker in hitting percentage (.362) and blocks (103) and Kennedy VanScoy in aces (28). Callahan has pushed her career assist total to 4,702. Meanwhile, Opfer’s 898 career kills rank as the most among active Bulldogs (and are the 13th most in school history). Four other Concordia hitters have at least 100 kills in 2021: Nordaker (312), Erica Heinzerling (240), Rodaway (160), Kalee Wiltfong (131) and Costello (102).

Viterbo breezed past Indiana South Bend in the opening round and moved to 38-1 overall. The V-Hawks suffered their only loss this season back on Aug. 28 in a four-set decision at the hands of Midland. Viterbo dominated North Star Athletic Conference postseason honors, taking the conference coach, player, offensive player and libero of the year awards. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech sits at 24-6 overall after it ousted Westmont (Calif.) in straight sets as part of the opening round. Two Owls were recognized on the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s first team.

One team will emerge from each of the eight pools. The pool winners will be placed in an eight-team, single-elimination bracket. National championship bracket play will take place Dec. 2-4.

Advance tickets for NAIA National Championship matches can be purchased online through the Tyson Events Center at: https://www.tysoncenter.com/events/detail/naia-womens-volleyball-national-championship-1.