In one of the lasting images of the 2025 season, Head Coach Ben Boldt received a celebratory water shower in the postgame locker room on a night when history was made. The ’25 Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team became the first in program annals to advance to the semifinals of the NAIA National Championship. In doing so, the Bulldogs built upon the accomplishments of recent years and exemplified the team’s season long motto of “let it rip.”
In many ways, the ’25 season was a continuation of the remarkable success enjoyed by Concordia during the eight years the program has been led by Ben and Angie Boldt. For a seventh year in a row, the Bulldogs ended their season at the Tyson Events Center, the national championship final site.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Ben Boldt said. “I think we maxed out. We lost to a good team (in the national semifinals). Credit to Northwestern. I thought our team competed and that’s really what we want to get to. There was no fear in the swings we were taking. I really thought we did a great job of owning our motto this year of ‘let it rip.’ We did that with great purpose in the quarterfinal versus Providence, who is a really good team. That’s what I’m taking away from this. I’m proud that we owned our motto throughout the year. We really played for each other. It was a great year.”
In addition to reaching the semifinals, the Bulldogs went 28-4 while earning the most wins for a Concordia Volleyball team during the GPAC era (2000-present). Furthermore, they advanced to the GPAC Championship Match for a fifth consecutive year and claimed eight victories over top 25 teams along the way. As a result of the historic triumph in the national quarterfinals, Ben Boldt became the winningest coach in program history with his 182 wins surpassing Berniece Jones (181 wins). As standouts during the postseason run, Ashley Keck and Ella Waters were named to the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament Team. Meanwhile, Angie Boldt was voted GPAC Assistant Coach of the Year.
So many other memorable moments took place during the swan song for a class of 10 seniors. The four-year seniors helped the program to an impressive combined record of 105-18 for an .854 winning percentage, the highest over a four-year stretch in program history. The seniors recognized back on senior day (Sept. 27) were Autumn Deterding, Kate Griess, Sydney Jelinek, Ashley Keck, Addie Kirkegaard, Molli Martin, Lily Psencik, Kya Scott, Savannah Shelburne and Ella Waters.
In her senior campaign, Keck put together one of the finest individual seasons ever by a Bulldog Volleyball player. The Kearney, Neb., native has put herself on track to earn another NAIA All-America award. Her 481 kills in 2025 were the most by a Bulldog during the GPAC era and the fourth most in a single season in school history. During the season, Keck eclipsed both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career, making her the fifth Concordia player ever to accomplish that feat. Keck will go down as one of the greatest players to ever wear Bulldog Blue.
“She does what she does,” Boldt said. “Ashley is someone you can lean on if we’re in trouble. She’s someone who has put in so much work. I thought she handled the load really well. She didn’t feel like it was all on her shoulders, but she also knew that when she got the ball set to her, she could find a way to get kills. She affected the tournament in different ways besides getting kills. She’s a six-rotation passer for us. She came up with some really big digs and had some ace serves. I’m just really proud of her. How it ended was very satisfying for her considering the effort she put into it.”
For the second year in a row, Keck was tabbed the GPAC Attacker of the Year. She was joined with first team all-conference honors by middle blocker Ava Greene and right side Ella Waters. Second team accolades went to libero Emma Brueggemann and middle blocker Molli Martin and honorable mention status was earned by defensive specialist Shandy Faalii and defensive specialist Kya Scott. Brueggemann was also lauded as the GPAC Freshman Year in a sterling first season in the back row. A strong defensive team, Concordia held opponents to a .119 hitting percentage and to 10.97 kills per set. Greene led the front row defensive efforts with an average of 1.22 blocks per set.
From an offensive perspective, the Bulldogs were a balanced team. Setters Lily Psencik and Savannah Shelburne teed the ball up for five different players to surpass 150 total kills: Keck (481), Waters (290), Scott (189), Martin (182) and Greene (155). The most widely seen kill of the whole season may have been one delivered out of the back row by Faalii, whose thunderous kill (on the heels of an extended rally) in the home win over Midland on Sept. 17 made an appearance on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays.
The team’s season hitting percentage of .207 ranked 34th nationally. Though it was a drop from 2024 (.240), Concordia showed an ability to rise to the occasion and to let it rip when times got tight. The theme of ‘let it rip’ was a response to the 2024 squad’s five-set loss to Bellevue in the national quarterfinals. The motto inspired the type of mindset that helped carry the Bulldogs to five-set national tournament victories over No. 22 Dakota Wesleyan and No. 6 Providence (Mont.).
Nothing came easy on the national stage, and that was okay with this Concordia edition. In the momentous national quarterfinal victory over Providence, Keck, Waters and Scott took turns striking for kills down the stretch. As Keck said afterwards, “We knew going into the fifth set that this was our chance. This is who we are. We get ourselves into these tough moments, but we finish them.”
The results in 2025 were a byproduct of an intense focus on the day-to-day processes emphasized by the Boldts. It may sound cliché, but it’s how Concordia has built itself into an elite program with 24 consecutive appearances in the top five of the NAIA coaches’ poll.
“You can’t always control the outcomes, but you can control how you approach it,” Ben Boldt said. “You have to stay in the present and not get ahead of yourself. Be there and be with each other. When we had that right mindset, I thought we were executing really well. We were just gritty. I don’t know that we hit over .200 for a full match. When we needed to do it, like in the fifth set versus Dakota Wesleyan, we hit over .400. We had similar hitting numbers versus Providence. When we needed to execute, we did. We stayed in it and competed. I thought our mentality was really good in controlling what we could control.”
Preparation for 2026 will pick up once classes resume for the second semester. The Boldts will be tasked with replacing the accomplished senior class. New names and faces will prepare this offseason to pick up the slack.
Said Boldt, “We’re moving forward. You’re always thinking about the next thing as a coach. I’m really looking forward to a little bit of a break for the team so they can focus on academics and finish up finals. With the group that we have, there are 10 seniors who are graduating. It’s kind of a new group that we’re going to have. The last couple of years we’ve had that group that has been together. I’m looking forward to some new faces that are going to be out there. We have to make sure that we put in the work. We’ll come up with a new motto for next year. I have a couple of ideas for that. Over the Christmas break, that’s the kind of stuff that we do to set the groundwork for what the next year’s going to be. We’re in that mode right now.”