FREMONT, Neb. – For only the second time all season, Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball found itself in a two-sets-to-none hole. After the second set finished with an official’s whistle on a late call, the fourth-ranked Bulldogs sprung to life and earned the reverse sweep over rival and 19th-ranked Midland, 20-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-9, on Saturday (Nov. 1) evening. The individual superlatives for Concordia included 13 blocks from Ava Green and 18 kills and 18 digs from All-American Ashley Keck.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad improved to 21-2 (14-1 GPAC) with one match remaining in the regular season. The Bulldogs took both meetings this season from the Warriors, but this one was no picnic.
“When you have a match between Concordia and Midland, this is what it looks like,” Boldt said. “You have to be prepared for a gritty match. You have to come prepared to work hard. You have to earn your points. Both the hitting percentages were really high today and everybody was getting kills. I’m really proud of our team for their composure and sticking with it. It was truly a team win.”
Behind standout outside hitter Brooklynn Snyder, Midland took the fight to Concordia and hit better than .300 in each of the first two sets. Down 24-23 in the second set, the Bulldogs thought they had kept the ball alive, but a point was awarded that resulted in a kill for set point. The tide turned in the third set when Concordia trailed 14-12. A Kya Scott kill ignited a 6-0 Concordia run that paved the way for a fourth set.
The blocking of Greene then became a major story as she combined to stuff seven Warriors attacks over the fourth and fifth sets. Keck came through with a kill for point No. 25 in the fourth. In the fifth, the Bulldogs shook off a 4-3 deficit by rattling off seven of the next eight points to take control. Fittingly, the match ended on a combined block by Greene and Maddie Paulsen.
Said Boldt, “Everybody was earning points tonight. Ava is a really good blocker. That’s her super power. She’s locked into the game plan. She owns that identity as a volleyball player … We didn’t get outside of ourselves. We got super focused. I was proud how we responded to that (going down 2-0).”
Keck’s stat line included five blocks of her own. Concordia amassed a whopping 17 blocks to Midland’s five. Offensively, the Bulldogs were cooking with a .288 hitting percentage. Keck was followed in the kill category by teammates in Molli Martin (12), Ella Waters (12), Greene (eight) and Scott (eight). Setter Savannah Shelburne produced a fine performance with 25 assists, 10 digs and four aces (out of the team’s nine aces). Lily Psencik contributed 29 assists and libero Emma Brueggemann chipped in with 14 digs.
The Warriors (16-9, 11-4 GPAC) are locked into the No. 3 seed for the upcoming GPAC tournament. Midland found some hitting success (.203 percentage) when it managed to avoid the block. Snyder led all players with 21 kills while Abree Plueger notched 16 kills.
The Bulldogs will polish off the 2025 regular season this coming Tuesday by welcoming Doane (12-18, 3-13 GPAC) to Friedrich Arena. First serve of the varsity match is set for 7:30 p.m. CT. Concordia has won 14 of the past 15 meetings with the rival Tigers. In their first get together this season, the Bulldogs defeated Doane in Crete in four sets.