Volleyball defeats Wesleyan Tigers in successful away game, 3-1
Junior outside hitter Kya Scott (13) celebrates after a successful play (photo from previous match).
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh
By Maddy Peters
Sports Editor
The Concordia volleyball team won their second game on the road this weekend with a 3-1 game against the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers on Oct. 5 in Mitchell, S.D.
After a long night in Forest City, Iowa, the Bulldogs looped around to Mitchell to finish off the weekend. Concordia took two sets handedly before stumbling through the third and recatching their stride in the fourth.
The first set went down easy going 25-14 against the Tigers. The team had a .297 hitting percentage for the set with junior Ashley Keck drilling six kills onto Dakota Wesleyan’s side of the net. The team took an early lead going on a 10-1 run before Dakota Wesleyan was able to snatch a few points here and there.
The second set was much more even with an early back and forth that kept the Bulldogs on their toes. The team still had an efficient set hitting .283, but the defense began to waver and gave up a close 25-19 set foreshadowing the issues that would come in the third.
The Tigers would take an early lead in set three due to key errors from the Bulldogs. Concordia would later take a seven-point run to even the score out, but that shaky beginning continued to affect the team. There would be five more attacking errors in the set before Dakota Wesleyan ended the close set 25-22. Concordia hit a measly .132 in the set alongside seven attacking errors, three service errors and a bad set.
Concordia came into the final set much more confident after a pep talk from coach Ben Boldt. The team hit their best set of the night with a .394 and ended the game with a 25-13 fourth set. The Tigers were kept to a poor .053 hitting percentage for the fourth set
Keck had the most kills for the day with 19 and a .319 hitting percentage. She also assisted senior Rebecca Gebhardt in the back row racking up 25 digs alongside Gebhardt’s 32. Senior Cassidy Knust also filled out the back line with 13 digs of her own and a service ace.
Three other Bulldogs had kill stats in the double digits. Senior Gabi Nordaker was ruthlessly efficient with her 14 kills and a .520 hitting percentage. Sophomores Ella Waters and Ava Greene finished with 11 and 10 kills respectively.
The setter duo of juniors Lily Psencik and Savannah Shelbourne have proven themselves throughout the season after former teammate Bree Burtwhistle’s graduation. Psencik ended the day with 23 assists and Shelbourne had 32. Over the course of the season, Psencik has racked up 325 assists and Shelbourne has 377.
Volleyball is now 14-2 overall and 7-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. Their next game is against Briar Cliff University back home in Seward on Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. It is another two game weekend for volleyball with another home game against Morningside University the next day at 3 p.m.
