NOTE: A new NAIA coaches' top 25 poll was released on Wednesday, Oct. 11. In that poll, Concordia appearead at No. 1 and Northwestern in a tie for No. 3.
SEWARD, Neb. – Coming off a pivotal pair of weekend home victories, the top-ranked Concordia University Volleyball team has earned a break in the middle of this week before a doozy of a matchup on Saturday. Based on the NAIA coaches’ poll released on Sept. 27, the NAIA’s top two teams will meet at the Bultman Center in Orange City, Iowa, home to No. 2 Northwestern. The Red Raiders will present a significant threat to the Bulldogs’ unblemished 17-0 overall mark (10-0 GPAC). Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad passed the test last week while defeating both No. 14 Jamestown (four sets) and Dakota Wesleyan (three sets) inside a hopped up Friedrich Arena.
This Week
Saturday, Oct. 14 at No. 3 Northwestern (17-2, 8-2 GPAC), 3 p.m.
--Live Webcast | | Live Stats | Location: Bultman Center (Orange City, Iowa)
By the numbers
· Entering the week, each team in the GPAC has played either 10 or 11 conference matches. Thanks to the victory over the Jimmies, Concordia stands alone atop the standings at 10-0. Only three other conference teams are above .500 in league play: Jamestown (9-1), Northwestern (8-2) and College of Saint Mary (7-3). The regular season has condensed to six remaining matches for the Bulldogs, who have yet to play Northwestern (Oct. 14, away), Doane (Oct. 18, away), College of Saint Mary (Oct. 21, home), Mount Marty (Oct. 25, away), Hastings (Oct. 28, home) and Midland (Oct. 31, away). According to the official GPAC ratings (posted to NAIA.org on Monday), the top five teams in the GPAC, in order, are Concordia, Northwestern, College of Saint Mary, Jamestown and Midland.
· The season profile for Concordia includes wins over five teams ranked in the latest NAIA coaches’ poll: No. 8 Park University (Mo.), No. 10 Midland, No. 11 College of Saint Mary, No. 14 Jamestown and No. 20 Kansas Wesleyan University. Entering the week, the Bulldogs were one of three unbeaten squads remaining in the NAIA, along with Columbia International University (S.C.) (21-0) and Indiana Wesleyan University (22-0). The previous NAIA No. 1 team, Eastern Oregon University (15-1), was upset by Northwest University (Wash.) in five sets back on Sept. 16, paving the way for Concordia to move up from its previous position at No. 2. The current top five in the NAIA poll, following Concordia and Northwestern, includes No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 4 Eastern Oregon and No. 5 Corban University (Ore.). On another note, the Bulldogs have defeated four programs that reached the 2022 NAIA national quarterfinals: Dakota Wesleyan, Jamestown, Midland and Park.
· The Concordia-Jamestown matchup this Friday featured perhaps the loudest and largest volleyball crowd Friedrich Arena has ever seen. The Bulldog faithful were treated to a memorable victory as Boldt’s crew won, 23-25, 27-25, 25-18, 25-13. It marked the first time Concordia has beaten Jamestown since the Jimmies joined the GPAC beginning with the 2018 season. After a slow start, the Bulldogs adjusted and finished emphatically, hitting .277 in the third set and .533 in the fourth set. Three Concordia players reached double figures in kills: Ashley Keck (16), Camryn Opfer (14) and Gabi Nordaker (13). The Omaha native Nordaker also supplied 10 blocks while Carly Rodaway added five. Bree Burtwistle notched 43 digs and eight digs and Becca Gebhardt chipped in with 19 digs. Jamestown makes it a challenge to get kills with a back row led by Ellie Holden, last season’s NAIA Defensive Player of the Year. The loss for the Jimmies snapped their 10-match win streak overall and their 16-match win streak within GPAC regular season action.
· There were no signs of a letdown the very next day as the Bulldogs met Dakota Wesleyan for an afternoon affair. Concordia’s first 19 points of the match came via kill in a sharp first-set performance. The Bulldogs hit .315 with 15 more kills coming from Nordaker. On the other side of the net, Tiger All-American middle Ady Dwight was limited to six kills and a .103 hitting percentage. For the weekend as a whole, Concordia hit .294 with an average of 16.29 kills per set. The kills leaders were Nordaker (28), Keck (25) and Opfer (24). Nordaker hit .400 with 14 blocks over the two home wins. Other statistical leaders for the weekend were Opfer in digs (29), Burtwistle in assists (86) and Burtwistle and Opfer in aces (two apiece). The Bulldogs are now 9-0 at home this season and own a 10-match home win streak (including their 2022 GPAC tournament quarterfinal win over College of Saint Mary).
· There have been a number of milestones achieved this season by Concordia individuals as Nordaker hit 1,000 career kills, Gebhardt reached 1,000 career digs and Burtwistle surpassed 2,500 career assists. This past weekend, Opfer became the fourth player in program history to record at least 1,500 career digs and Nordaker became the fourth player in program annals to pile up at least 400 blocks. The three names above Opfer on the digs list are: Becky Ernstmeyer (2,235), Carli Smith (1,761) and Jocelyn Garcia (1,594). The top three Bulldogs in blocks are: Katie Werner (787), Rachel Kirchner (760) and Renae Beikmann (446).
· Concordia has taken over the national lead in hitting percentage while hitting .299 on the season. The Bulldogs also lead the NAIA in kills per set (14.93). At the conference level, the Bulldogs rank not only first in hitting percentage and kills per set, they also rank second in aces per set (1.77), fifth in blocks per set (2.10) and sixth in digs per set (17.40). On the individual GPAC leaderboard, Nordaker ranks first in hitting percentage (.395), Burtwistle ranks first in assists per set (11.68), Rodaway ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.328) and Keck ranks fourth in kills per set (3.55). Nationally, Burtwistle ranks No. 2 in assists while Nordaker ranks No. 5 in hitting percentage.
· Since beginning his tenure as Bulldog head coach in 2018, Ben Boldt owns an overall record of 119-43 for a winning percentage of .735. Earlier this season, Boldt moved past Rachel Miller (107-125) for No. 3 on the program’s all-time wins list. The top two head coaches on that list are Berniece Jones (181-200) and Vicki Boye (167-136).
The opponent
Northwestern has consistently achieved at a high level in Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch’s 20 seasons leading the program. During his tenure, the Red Raiders have reached the national tournament 13 times and have won seven GPAC championships (regular season and tournament combined). The 2023 squad is an elite one led by First Team All-GPAC outside hitters in 5-foot-11 Jazlin De Haan (Orange City native) and 6-foot Alysen Dexter. Among GPAC players, De Haan ranks second in kills per set (4.49) and Dexter ranks sixth in that category (3.50). Sophomore middle Zavyr Metzger tops the conference in blocks per set (1.90). In the GPAC team rankings, Northwestern sits first in aces per set (1.95), first in blocks per set (3.48), second in digs per set (17.68), second in hitting percentage (.236) and fifth in kills per set (12.71). Both of this season’s blemishes for the Red Raiders came in five sets at home: versus Jamestown (Sept. 8) and College of Saint Mary (Sept. 29). Due to the loss to CSM, it’s possible Northwestern could drop slightly from the No. 2 national ranking when the coaches’ poll is released on Wednesday (Oct. 11). The past two Concordia-Northwestern meetings (2021 in Orange City and 2022 in Seward) have both gone the Bulldogs’ way in five sets.
Next week
It will be back to a two-match week as the Bulldogs will play at Doane on Oct. 18 before returning home to host College of Saint Mary on Oct. 21.