SEWARD, Neb. – The second matchup of the season between the Concordia University Volleyball team and Dakota Wesleyan looked a lot like the first one. Gabi Nordaker rose to the occasion with her defensive prowess at the net, spurring the fourth-ranked Bulldogs to a 25-11, 25-17, 25-15, GPAC quarterfinal victory over the Tigers on Saturday (Nov. 4). As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Concordia earned the right to host in the quarterfinals and the upcoming semifinals.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad has moved to 22-2 overall as it gets started on what it hopes will be an extended postseason run. The Bulldogs quickly refocused after sharing the GPAC regular season title.
“It was a focused effort,” Boldt said. “I thought we served well and I thought we blocked really well. That was the difference in my mind. Gabi lined up really well on their main hitter. She had eight blocks – that’s really nice when we can do that.
“We were working off the net and put ourselves in good position to hit the ball anywhere on the court.”
Concordia got back to complete dominance on Saturday while excelling in all areas. The Bulldogs outhit DWU, .385 to .087, and held a 10-4 blocking advantage. It appeared as a mismatch from the jump as Concordia cruised to a 17-5 lead in the opening set. The Bulldogs barely blinked when they fell behind 6-1 in the second set. Concordia simply followed with kills on each of the next six points in the process of steamrolling the Tigers.
The shining moment for Nordaker came in the middle of the third set when she stuffed DWU All-American middle Ady Dwight on back-to-back points. The Millard West High School product amassed eight blocks in making life a pain for Tiger attackers. In both meetings with DWU this season, the Bulldogs have affectively contained Dwight, the GPAC’s leader in hitting percentage.
Offensively, Concordia was led on Saturday by Ashley Keck and Camryn Opfer with 11 kills apiece. Opfer hit .524 from the outside and did not commit a single error. She also added 13 digs as she looks to extend her fifth season as long as possible. Keck contributed 10 digs. Meanwhile, Maddie Paulsen and Carly Rodaway chipped in with nine kills apiece and Nordaker supplied five kills. Setter Bree Burtwistle beautifully shared the ball in racking up 44 assists to go with six digs. In service, Cassidy Knust landed a trio of aces.
Dwight led DWU (19-15) with 11 kills. No other Tiger had more than five kills. The Tigers finished with 27 kills as a team and did not hit better than .200 in any of the three sets. After reaching the national quarterfinals in 2022, DWU has likely seen its 2023 season come to a finish.
As for the Bulldogs, they have reached at least the semifinals of the GPAC tournament for a fifth year in a row. Concordia will host No. 12 Jamestown (23-8) at 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday in the semifinal round. The location has been reversed after the Bulldogs traveled to North Dakota for GPAC tournament title matches in 2021 and 2022. Concordia defeated the Jimmies in four sets back on Oct. 6 in front of perhaps the most electric volleyball crowd Friedrich Arena has ever seen.
Said Boldt of the upcoming matchup, “We have to be our best. Mentally we have to prepare for adversity. They’re a really good team. We have to be physical. It’s going to prepare us for the national tournament. We’re looking forward to it.”