Bulldogs blank Doane 3-0 to wrap up regular season
Concordia volleyball players get announced before their game against Doane.
Photo: Ben Frerking
By Keith Siek
No. 3 Bulldog volleyball ramped up their intensity and communication against Doane University on Tuesday, increasing their margin of victory in consecutive sets 25-22, 25-15, 25-12 in their final game before postseason play.
The Bulldogs worked through uncharacteristic errors early in the close first set, but momentum permanently sided with Concordia after junior Sandy Fa’ali’i sparked the offense with a kill and back-to-back aces in a four-play span during the second set. The Bulldogs closed the second match on a 4-0 team run, and never looked back in a dominant third set.
Coach Ben Boldt said that mental toughness after back-to-back errors in the first set helped his team execute better as the match unfolded.
“Our execution down the stretch was a lot better,” Boldt said. “We adjusted and stayed tough mentally after multiple errors in that first set and were able to execute later on in the match.”
Fa’ali’i led the Bulldog attack with eight kills on 19 attempts for a .263 hitting percentage, and sophomore Makenna Starkey added seven kills over her own, including a match-point kill that sent Doane on their way back home. Starkey finished with a .455 kill percentage on 11 offensive attempts.
The Bulldogs’ offensive engine started clicking on all cylinders after Concordia sped up their gameplay and increased their communication.
Coach Boldt said that the key change came from the middle of the Bulldogs’ offense.
“We wanted our middles to speed up our set. Once we started connecting on the set, we started getting kills,” Boldt said.
Freshman Samantha Kimbell said that communication increased on the court and helped generate the offensive attack after the first set.
“We definitely upped our communication and controlled what we can control,” Kimbell said.
The Bulldogs hit .253 as a team and tallied 14 serving aces against nine serving errors when all was said and done. Freshman Myla Emery led the Bulldogs in digs with 10 over three sets as well as assists with 17. Sophomore Jenna Sladky recorded nine digs and three serving aces.
The 23-4 Bulldogs will turn their attention to tournament play after closing out the regular season, with a 14-2 conference record.
Kimbell said that the Bulldogs are excited to attack the postseason.
“We are fired up, and we’re ready,” Kimbell said.
The No. 2 seed Bulldogs will begin play in the opening round of the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament in a matchup against the seventh-seeded Dakota Westleyan. The Bulldogs have defeated Dakota Wesleyan once already this season, 3-0 in Mitchell, South Dakota, back in late September.
Concordia is scheduled to start postseason play against the Tigers in Friedrich Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
