Volleyball continues on to final national tournament site with 3-0 sweep of Our Lady of the Lake
Junior Ashley Keck digs out a shot from the opposing team (photo from previous match)
Photo credit: Maddy Peters
By Maddy Peters
Sports Editor
The Concordia volleyball team punched its ticket to the final site for the national tournament with a 3-0 sweep of the Our Lady of the Lake University Saints Saturday afternoon in Seward.
The Bulldogs faced close sets and hard hitters from the Texans coached by former Concordia volleyball coach Scott Mattera who preceded current coach Ben Boldt.
Concordia was able to take an early lead and get ahead of Our Lady with a 5-0 run in the first set. The Saints brought the score back to even and went point for point against the Bulldogs. Concordia was able to break the ties with a 4-0 run at the 16-16 mark and hold out to end the set 25-22. The team hit for .361 to start off the game.
Our Lady kept the second set close as well with a 5-0 run early in the second set to respond to a Concordia lead. The teams went point for point again until the 16-17 mark when the Bulldogs went 10-2 to take the second set 25-19. The team hit their lowest percentage with .286. However, they kept the Saints at a measly .083.
The Saints took the slight lead in the third set and forced the Bulldogs to play catch up for the majority of it. Concordia eked out a slight lead in the twilight of the set to hold off a fourth set with the score at 25-22. The team hit their best with an even .400 hitting percentage to round out the game.
Serving was one of the key issues for the Bulldogs coming out of the game. Both teams recorded seven service errors, but Our Lady had six aces while Concordia only had one from junior Kate Griess.
Three Bulldogs had double-digit kills on the day. The leader was the usual junior Ashley Keck with 15, alongside 12 digs. Junior Kya Scott and sophomore Ella Waters each had 10 apiece. Senior Rebecca Gebhardt was the team leader in digs with 16. Junior setters Savannah Shelbourne and Lily Psencik had 21 and 18 assists respectively.
The team is now 25-3 coming into pool play for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament. The pool play bracket is scheduled to be released at 1 p.m. CT. There the Bulldogs will find out who they will play from Dec. 4-6 in Sioux City, Iowa.
