st. Paul, minn. - the concordia university volleyball team (33-1) escaped their toughest challenge of the season to advance to the championship round of the ncaa central region tournament. The golden bears rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to claim a 3-2 win over nebraska-kearney (32-4), the tournament's #4 seed and ranked #9 in the nation (20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-13, 15-10). For the fifth consecutive season, the golden bears will be matched up with the bulldogs of minnesota duluth in the championship game, which will be served up at 7:30 pm at the gangelhoff center.
"(nebraska-kearney) gave us everything they had," said concordia head coach brady starkey. "they are a very young and talented team."
friday night's match was the first five-set challenge for the golden bears this season. After falling behind 2-1, the team knew it would take a concerted effort to rally back for the win, but they felt they were prepared.
"we practice five-set matches every day in practice, so we were ready for it," commented starkey.
the lopers held concordia to a .190 hitting average, the second-lowest average of the year behind only a .150 performance in the season-opening loss to cal state san bernardino. While the offense came up with a season high 70 kills, being able to defend the unk offensive onslaught proved to be the difference maker for concordia. The lopers were one of the strongest hitting teams that cu has seen this season.
"we focused on doubling up on the middles (blocking) and letting the outside swing. We took away a good area of the court and dug up a lot of balls. Our block got some good touches and slowed the ball down," said starkey of the defensive game plan.
senior whitney meierotto led the team with 27 digs and made it a double-double with a team high 18 kills. The offense picked things up following a rough first set and gradually made their hitting average rise. They posted 18 kills in a second set win and had a match high .312 hitting average in a fourth set win.
freshman ellie duffy came out in a huge way for her squad, racking up 17 kills and assisting on four blocks. Also finishing in double figures for kills for the golden bears were maria steinhagen and sadie kessler with 15 and 11 kills respectively. maggie mcnamara had a season high 64 assists and finished the night with her 1,000th career dig.
"we have five hitters who can put it up any night," said meierotto. "we trust each other and push each other in practice, which helps us in games like this," she explained.
working for the lopers on friday evening was a solid blocking effort, something that leading player jeri walkowiak was pleased to see.
"blocking has been one of our weaknesses all season, something that coach has made us work on every day. It peaked in this match against concordia's big guns."
nebraska-kearney came up with 11 blocks against concordia, including six from walkowiak (2s, 4a). Nikki scott chipped in with four (1s, 3a). Walkowiak and scott were also the leading attackers on the night with 12 and 17 kills each, respectively. The lopers hit .181 in the match, swinging for significantly higher figures in set wins and a low of .091 in the final set loss.
the regional championship continues to play a broken record with concordia university and minnesota duluth meeting for the fifth consecutive year. The teams have traded wins and berths in the elite eight every other season. The bulldogs will have their sights set on revenge this season, remembering a concordia upset that came on bulldog turf in 2007. The golden bears have defeated minnesota duluth twice this year. The match starts at 7:30 pm at the gangelhoff center.
