It was an era of change for Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball. As the calendar flipped to a new millennium, the Bulldogs transitioned to the newly formed Great Plains Athletic Conference while turning to a youthful head coach in Becky Ernstmeyer. As it turned out, the 2000 volleyball season would be the final one that featured side-out scoring (only the serving team can be awarded a point) at the collegiate level. Fresh off a 24-11 overall record in the 1999 season that marked Diane Mendenhall’s final one as head coach, Concordia’s prospects were promising heading into 2000.
As Ernstmeyer wrote at the end of the campaign, “The year 2000 found the Concordia volleyball team in the midst of many changes. A new coach, a larger, more competitive conference and a preseason national ranking of 25th provided fresh challenges for the Bulldogs. But new challenges, combined with old values reaped great rewards for the team.”
Those rewards included a share of the 2000 GPAC regular season title as part of a fall that featured home showdowns with the likes of conference favorite Dordt and highly rated Hastings. When the dust settled, all three squads tied for the first conference championship in the history of GPAC volleyball. Led by the likes of middle blocker Rachel Kirchner, setter Jenny Rempe and outside hitters Alisha Bredehoft and Rachel Buescher, the Bulldogs went 9-1 in league play and ultimately came up one win shy of becoming the first volleyball team in school history to reach the NAIA national tournament.
Fresh out of college, Ernstmeyer (married name Loewe) took the reins of the program from her former head coach. Mendenhall was announced as the Director of Operations for John Cook’s University of Nebraska program in March of 2000. Concordia and Athletic Director Grant Schmidt responded by bringing back the Bulldogs’ all-time kills leader Ernstmeyer, who had been coaching and teaching at Lutheran East High School in Lansing, Illinois.
Ernstmeyer inherited a strong team that had placed third in the suddenly defunct Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference the previous year. Heading into the 2000 season, the Bulldogs were built to win behind their budding star middle blocker Rachel Kirchner (Clarinda, Iowa), future head coach at Concordia. Kirchner and company would prove stout in the middle while averaging 3.34 blocks per game that fall. Kirchner teamed up with her sister Sandy and Amanda Ficke in the middle. On the outsides, Bredehoft and Buescher supplied thunder with Rempe and Alica Stuckenschmidt filling the setter role.
As Rachel Kirchner stated in a 2023 interview, “It’s hard to remember what happened when I was a player and when I was coaching. We went from regular scoring to rally scoring. We went from the NIAC to the GPAC. All of these things changed. We went from no let serve to allowing let serves.”
Perhaps some of the details would help jog her memory. An early hint that this could be a special season came on Sept. 9 as part of a nonconference triangular in Seward. The 25th-ranked Bulldogs upset NAIA preseason No. 2 Hastings in five sets, 17-15, 10-15, 15-11, 12-15, 15-8, as Kirchner struck for 16 kills and 13 blocks. As Ernstmeyer commented afterwards, “There was never a doubt in my mind that we’d win this game.”
Before conference play had officially begun in the middle of September, Concordia had already beaten the three teams picked above it in the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll: Dordt, Hastings and Nebraska Wesleyan. As part of a rugged nonconference schedule, the Bulldogs defeated No. 14 Dordt (five sets) on Sept. 16 before falling at the hands of No. 17 Peru State (four sets) on Sept. 20 and No. 2 College of Saint Mary (three sets) on Sept. 22.
In league play (which began on Sept. 23), Ernstmeyer’s battle-tested bunch steamrolled through its first five opponents, winning each match in straight sets. That stretch included a victory over 1999 NIAC league champion Northwestern. Concordia toppled the Red Raiders in Orange City, Iowa, 18-16, 15-9, 15-10, with Buescher (nine kills) and Rachel Kirchner (13 blocks) leading the way. Kirchner and her teammates blazed to a 6-0 GPAC record before finally falling at home to Dordt (four sets) in a matchup between the NAIA’s Nos. 11 and 12 ranked teams.
With no more margin for error remaining in the chase for a league title, the Bulldogs went on the road and defeated both Nebraska Wesleyan and Dakota Wesleyan, moving to 8-1 in conference play. Those results set up a monumental clash with No. 15 Hastings, which entered the Oct. 25 match in Seward with an unblemished 9-0 GPAC record. The Broncos had handed Dordt its lone GPAC defeat.
Incredibly, Concordia blanked Hastings, 15-0, in the opening set before the Broncos responded. Hastings won the second and fourth sets, setting up a tension-filled final set. The Bulldogs won it, 15-12, and celebrated a share of the first GPAC title in their home gym. Six Concordia players registered at least 10 kills: Buescher (14), Ficke (12), Sandy Kirchner (12), Jenni Weaver (11), Bredehoft (10) and Rachel Kirchner (10). Said Ernstmeyer after the win, “Wow! What a way to end our regular season conference play … Our strength was that everyone did their part. Our setters did an excellent job of mixing up our offense and our defensive players did a great job of coming in and playing scrappy ball.”
Remarked Rachel (Kirchner) Miller more than 20 years later, “It was exciting being that it was the inaugural year for it. Dordt and Hastings were both great programs. The fact that we were pushing the top of the league was exciting. I honestly can’t remember the games.”
That postseason, Concordia made a strong push for a spot at the NAIA National Championship tournament held in West Palm Beach, Florida. In the GPAC tournament, the Bulldogs defeated Northwestern at home in the quarterfinals before being tripped up by No. 9 Dordt in the semifinals. In a format unlike the one used in NAIA volleyball in the present, Concordia continued postseason action at the NAIA Great Plains Regional in North Newton, Kansas.
Ernstmeyer’s squad wound up in fourth place at the six-team regional, not quite enough to earn a bid to the national tournament. At the regional, the Bulldogs knocked off rival Doane before slipping up against the likes of No. 4 College of Saint Mary and No. 13 Bellevue. The Concordia-Bellevue winner stood a strong chance of reaching the national stage (a feat achieved by Bellevue).
In the aftermath, Ernstmeyer stated, “I really cannot express how proud I am of the way we performed and held our composure on the court in spite of having to mix up our lineup a little bit this weekend. The members of this team are outstanding individuals.”
Most would likely agree with Rachel (Kirchner) Miller when she says that the relationships and the shared memories of time spent together are what mattered most. Said Rachel, “Everybody says it, and it seems so cliché, but it’s the people and the trips that you remember. We were pre-cell phone. There were a few people who had cell phones, but we had walkie talkies amongst the vans, and we would play games on them. Those memories were pretty awesome. There were a lot of great relationships.”
Upon her induction into the Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014, Becky (Ernstmeyer) Loewe wrote, “There is something so special about Concordia. I am extremely grateful to have had such a unique, enriching and Christ-centered college experience.”
Final statistical leaders from the 2000 season:
· Kills – Rachel Kirchner, 421 (3.1 per set)
· Assists – Jenny Rempe, 772 (5.85 per set)
· Aces – Alisha Bredehoft, 75
· Digs – Jenni Weaver, 542 (4.67 per set)
· Blocks – Rachel Kirchner, 226 (1.67 per set)
2000 GPAC Regular Season Results
Final Records: 23-13 overall | 9-1 GPAC (T-1st)
· Sept. 23 – Won vs. Sioux Falls, 15-3, 15-11, 15-2
· Sept. 27 – Won at Dana, 15-3, 15-4, 15-5
· Sept. 30 – Won at Northwestern, 18-16, 15-9, 15-10
· Oct. 4 – Won vs. Doane, 15-3, 15-6, 15-12
· Oct. 7 – Won at Mount Marty, 15-8, 15-2, 15-5
· Oct. 11 – Won vs. Midland, 15-10, 12-15, 15-10, 10-15, 15-6
· Oct. 14 – Lost vs. No. 12 Dordt, 15-8, 9-15, 8-15, 9-15
· Oct. 18 – Won at Nebraska Wesleyan, 6-15, 15-10, 15-2, 15-13
· Oct. 21 – Won at Dakota Wesleyan, 15-3, 15-6, 15-4
· Oct. 25 – Won vs. No. 15 Hastings, 15-0, 6-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-12
2000 Postseason Results
· GPAC Quarterfinals (Nov. 4) – Won vs. Northwestern, 15-7, 15-13, 15-10
· GPAC Semifinals (Nov. 8) – Lost at No. 9 Dordt, 15-7, 15-6, 10-15, 5-15, 6-15
· NAIA Regionals (Nov. 16) – Won vs. Doane, 15-11, 15-11, 15-13
· NAIA Regionals (Nov. 17) – Loss vs. No. 4 College of Saint Mary, 6-15, 7-15, 10-15
· NAIA Regionals (Nov. 18) – Loss vs. No. 13 Bellevue, 8-15, 11-15, 6-15
--NOTE: Finished one win shy of reaching the NAIA national tournament, which featured an exclusive field of 20 teams.
2000 Final GPAC Standings (top four)
· Concordia: 9-1
· Dordt: 9-1
· Hastings: 9-1
· Doane: 6-4
2000 Concordia All-GPAC honorees: Rachel Kirchner (First Team); Jenny Rempe (First Team); Alisha Bredehoft (Second Team); Rachel Buescher (Second Team).
--Rachel Kirchner was also honored as NAIA Honorable Mention All-American.