Bulldogs sweep Mount Marty for the second time
Sophomore Jenna Sladky serves against Mount Marty.
Photo: Trey Boychuk
By Trey Boychuk
The Concordia Bulldogs volleyball team welcomed Mount Marty to town Wednesday night and picked up the win in dominating fashion, 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-21). It’s the second time the Bulldogs have swept the Lancers this season.
It was an all-around effort in a gritty win for the Bulldogs against Mount Marty. Concordia outplayed Mount Marty in almost every major statistic. The Bulldogs had 40 kills of their own to Mount Marty’s 26. Defensively, Concordia had some lapses. They also had eight service errors to just five by Mount Marty.
Junior Shandy Fa’ali’i and sophomore Makenna Starkey were the leaders offensively as they had nine kills each. Starkey had an impressive hitting percentage of .615% as she put down her nine kills on just 13 total attacks.
The Bulldogs were slow to start each set, as in the first they trailed 10-6 and they started the second set the same exact way. Coach Ben Boldt recognizes the slow starts but knows it won’t affect his team.
“We don’t want to get too high or too low whether we win the point or lose the point,” Boldt said. “We just want to stay consistent and move forward one point at a time.”
Concordia regrouped after each of their slow starts as they dominated the rest of the game. The Bulldogs came away with a 10-point win in the first set, 25-15, but weren’t able to carry their momentum into the second set as they once again were trailing early.
The Bulldogs got back to their ways each set and ended up dominating the game.
Concordia currently sits in second place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference standings, with just five games left in the season. The Bulldogs know that they need to have high confidence as postseason play is right around the corner.
“Nothing changes; our mentality has always been no doubt”. Fa’ali’i said.
The team has been strong all season and wants to continue that as they want to replicate their run to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics final four last season.
For their next game, the Bulldogs will head to Omaha to match up against College of Saint Mary on Oct.17 at 3 pm. The Dawgs will look to continue their winning ways as they have won 13 of their last 14 games, one of those a 3-1 win over CSM back in September.
