FREMONT, Neb. – While a certain match in Omaha captured the attention of volleyball fans across the state of Nebraska on Wednesday (Sept. 7), nearby Fremont served as the locale for a battle between GPAC in-state rivals ranked inside the NAIA’s top 10. The match lived up to its billing on a night when every point felt like a fistfight between 10th-ranked Concordia University Volleyball and No. 2 Midland. In the end, the host Warriors rallied from a 12-9 deficit in the fifth set and won the heart stopper, 27-25, 19-25, 25-13, 17-25, 16-14.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad has fallen for the first time in 2022. The Bulldogs slipped to 10-1 overall (1-1 GPAC) with a near miss on the road against an opponent that owns a victory over the NAIA’s top-ranked team.
“It was a fun game for sure,” Boldt said. “It’s what you expect in the GPAC. We had an opportunity at the end. We had a couple service errors. We’ll take a look at that and we’ll continue to put our team in those types of positions. Hopefully we learn from this. I was proud of our effort. Everything we talk about in our core values, we stayed true to, so I was happy about that. At the end there, we’ll take the learning experience.”
There’s no fifth-set phobia for Concordia, it just didn’t make the plays down the stretch. A kill by Carly Rodaway for Bulldog point No. 12 in the fifth put the visitors on the brink. But Midland showed a championship response in front of its home crowd. Warrior star Taliyah Flores struck for Warrior point Nos. 10, 13 and 14 of the fifth set. At 14-14, Midland finished it off with a kill and a service ace for match point.
It took a little bit of grit for the Warriors to overcome All-America type efforts from Gabi Nordaker (16 kills and nine blocks) and Camryn Opfer (16 kills, 18 digs and three blocks). Opfer already had her double-double after two sets and Nordaker got rolling late with eight kills in the fourth set alone. They were spurred as always by setter Bree Burtwistle and her 53 assists. Rodaway collected 14 kills and Rebecca Gebhardt notched 18 digs. In addition, Kalee Wiltfong recorded seven kills and four blocks.
Concordia enjoyed advantages in many statistical categories, such as hitting percentage, .232 to .186, blocks, 13-7, and digs, 74-60. However, the Bulldogs did not have their best night from the service line with one ace compared to nine errors. That was just one factor that helped decide the outcome. Midland All-American setter Hope Leimbach (64 assists) and middle blocker Abbey Ringler (19 kills, .394 hitting percentage) were also a handful. Meanwhile, Flores finished with 16 kills and 13 digs.
Said Boldt, “Again, I’m proud of our players. Our trust out there was great. Our work ethic out there was great. Sometimes it bounces the other way. I’m looking forward to taking where we’re at right now and building off of it. We’ll continue to get better through the season.”
Concordia and Midland (12-1, 2-0 GPAC) will meet again for the final match of the regular season and perhaps in the postseason. The Warriors won two of the three meetings in 2021 with the Bulldogs winning the matchup in the GPAC tournament. Based on Wednesday night, the two programs appear to be on about equal footing.
The Bulldogs will have this weekend off from competition while looking forward to playing at Doane (4-9, 0-2 GPAC) next Wednesday (Sept. 14). First serve of the varsity match is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT. Concordia has won seven of the last eight meetings with the Tigers, who were picked eighth in the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll.