Volleyball caps off perfect weekend in Omaha
Concordia volleyball celebrates win over York (photo from previous game)
Photo: Leo Lopez
By Ransom Watts
Bulldog volleyball fought hard and pulled through against the University of St. Francis 3-0 on Saturday to close out a perfect weekend at the College of St. Mary’s Labor Day Classic in Omaha, Nebraska. They played well against their opponents and went home victorious after each of their three games across Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, the first set started off a little slower for Concordia, and the Cougars managed to keep the score within 6 points. Despite St. Francis’ determination, the Bulldogs soon pulled away and managed 10 kills in the first set with a kill percentage of 0.182 over the Cougars’ 0.91.
Sophomores Laynee Baker and Makenna Starkey were standout players for the Bulldogs in the first set. Both were dangerous from the attack and ended the first set with three kills each.
Going into the second set, Concordia went down early 3-6 and were letting errors get the best of them. They quickly turned things around, however, and started to put a gap on St. Francis. Baker continued to find the ball and rack up kills, as did Starkey. Junior Shandy Fa’ali’i turned up the heat early in the second set and remained offensively dominant throughout.
The Bulldogs ended the second set 25-16 and doubled their kill percentage from the first set to 0.400. They also calmed down some of the errors that threatened them in the first set, finishing with only three. On the other side of the court, the Cougars came away with a 0.114 kill percentage and double the errors of the Bulldogs.
The story was much the same in the third set for Concordia. Once again, St. Francis looked to threaten but came just short, at one point giving up three back-to-back points from errors, which gave Concordia some breathing room.
The offensive prowess of Starkey, Baker and Fa’ali’i also stayed the same in the third set. The trio had a combined eight kills and proved to be too tough to stop for the Cougars. Across all three sets, Starkey and Baker combined for 14 total kills, and each had roughly a .500 kill percentage.
As a team, the Bulldogs led the Cougars in the kill category, where they ended the day with an impressive 0.307 to St Francis’ 0.055. Overall, the Bulldogs’ dominant offensive performance against St. Francis helped secure their third victory of the weekend and capped off a successful showing at the College of St. Mary Labor Day Classic.
Now 9-2, the Bulldogs will open Great Plains Athletic Conference play on Sept. 9 at home against Midland at 7:30 pm.
