OMAHA, Neb. – The unbeaten ride reached 7-0 before the fourth-ranked Concordia University, Nebraska Volleyball team met its match on Saturday afternoon at the College of Saint Mary Labor Day Classic in Omaha. As part of day two action at the event, the Bulldogs earned a 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-19, win over Bethel College (Kan.) before being tripped up by No. 5 Eastern Oregon University, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21, to wrap up the weekend. Concordia managed to limit its two Saturday foes to a combined hitting percentage of .147.
Head Coach Ben Boldt’s squad stands at 7-1 following a 3-1 weekend in Omaha. The Bulldogs picked up Friday wins over Ottawa University (Kan.) and No. 16 Viterbo University (Wis.). Concordia will now endeavor to learn and grow from its first defeat.
“We learned a lot in this match in terms of how to deal with the speed of the game,” Boldt said. “We were talking a lot about our fundamentals. It’s being prepared and ready to go for the ball. It’s being prepared in the margins. Sometimes we’re going to be a little more physical than the other team on the other side of the net. The margins are going to be a little bit wider. The margins were a lot tighter in this one. We have some things to clean up, and we have to be a little bit quicker. We learned a whole lot, and I think we’re going to get a lot better.”
With two wins over NAIA top 25 teams under their belts, the Bulldogs hoped to slow down an Eastern Oregon squad that leads the nation in kills per set. A day after taking care of No. 7 Northwestern in straight sets, the Mountaineers looked sharp again behind returning NAIA First Team All-American middle blocker Kiauna Mack (11 kills and five blocks). Mack emerged as a key contributor, along with Brooke Womack (match-high 22 digs), to a defensive effort that stifled the Bulldogs to the tune of respective set-by-set hitting percentages of .133, .071 and .154.
In each set, EOU (7-0) found its finishing touch after Concordia hung within 19-17 in the first and second sets and 24-21 in the fifth. Bulldog All-American outside hitter Ashley Keck posted 11 kills and 10 digs while Ella Watters added eight kills, Molli Martin chipped in five blocks and Shandy Faalii dug 19 attacks. There were only a combined three aces (and just one service error was committed by the Mountaineers). The quickness and power of EOU was simply too much. The Mountaineers claimed their fourth win already over a top 25 foe.
Said Boldt, “Credit to Eastern Oregon. They’re a really good team. They run a fast offense that really stressed us. I thought we served and passed pretty well. We had a couple service errors at the end, but for the majority of the game, I thought we served and passed well. Getting prepared for their offense is tough.”
In the morning match, Bethel took the first set from Concordia behind the hot hitting of middle blocker Alayna Vines (15 kills for the match). However, the Bulldogs sharpened their game and controlled the next three sets while Keck swatted a career-high 23 kills (on 52 swings). She added 11 digs, two blocks and an ace to her stat line. Faalii piled up a team best 31 digs over the day’s two matches. At setter, Lily Psencik and Savannah Shelburne combined for 77 assists over the two matches. Martin and Greene led the team defensively at the net with eight and seven blocks, respectively.
Concordia outhit the Threshers, .252 to .066. The previous day, Bethel (5-5) seized a five-set upset of No. 20 Midland. Bethel also knocked off Hastings in the opening weekend of the season.
Conference play is up next. The Bulldogs will begin the GPAC grind next Saturday (Sept. 6) with a trip to Mount Marty (6-2). First serve of the varsity match from Cimpl Arena in Yankton, S.D., is slated for 3 p.m. CT. Concordia won both of last season’s meetings with the Lancers in four sets.