Orange City, Iowa — After winning their quarterfinals matches last Saturday, No. 7 Northwestern and No. 10 Concordia will go head-to-head in the GPAC tournament semifinals. First serve is scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday, April 7th at the Bultman Center.
Jamestown earned the GPAC regular season automatic berth to the NAIA National Volleyball Championship.The Cypress Risk Management GPAC Volleyball Tournament winner (runner-up if Jamestown wins) also receives an automatic berth to the NAIA National Volleyball Championship.
Earlier this season in their regular season meeting on Saturday, October 10th, Northwestern handed Concordia their first loss of the season, 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 25-22).
The Raiders dominated play on both sides of the net, hitting .243 compared to Concordia’s .076, while also owning a 10-7 edge in blocks.
Northwestern was led by Anna Wedel, who contributed 19 kills and 12 digs. A.J. Kacmarynski and Emily Van Ginkel both put down 11 kills each. Lacey Reitz contributed 42 assists, two kills, and 12 digs. Emily Strasser and Oliva Granstra had 19 and nine digs, respectively.
Concordia was led by Kalee Wilfong, who had 18 kills and hit a match best .300, and Arleigh Costello, who put down 11 kills.
The Bulldogs are one of seven teams from the GPAC in the latest NAIA Coaches’ poll and 15-3 this season. Prior to the GPAC tournament, they played two non-conference games this spring, defeating Ottawa University, 3-1, and Grand View University, 3-0. They defeated Dakota Wesleyan in the GPAC Quarterfinals, 3-0. Tara Callahan lofted up 34 assists and directed a balanced attack for the Bulldogs, with five players having at least six kills, led by Kara Stark with 13.
Hired in December of 2017, Boldt is in the midst of his third season as the head of the Concordia volleyball program. Boldt has coaching stops at Hendrix College, a NCAA D-III school, and the University of Nebraska. He returns six starters, eight players from a 2019 team that finished third in the GPAC with an 11-5 record, 25-8 overall, and qualified for its first NAIA National Championship tournament. They went 2-1 and advanced out of pool play before losing to Missouri Baptist.
The Raiders defeated No.7 seed Hastings 3-0 in last Saturday’s GPAC quarterfinals for their third straight win this spring. Lacey Reitz directed an offense that hit .494, putting away 46 kills in 83 attempts, only making five errors. Makenzie Fink put down a match high 12 kills and hit .611. Anna Wedel contributed 11 kills, hitting .320, while Bekah Horstman had a season-high eight kills and five blocks, hitting .538. A.J Kacmarynski hit .545 for the match and Emily Van Ginkel hit .444; all five Raider hitters compiled a hitting percentage better than .300.
