By: CJ Siewert

TOURNAMENT WEBSITE |  MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | PRESS CONFERENCES: CONCORDIA | NEBRASKA-KEARNEY

ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a battle of the top two NCAA Division II volleyball teams in the country, No. 1 Concordia University claimed the NCAA Central Region Championship on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over Co-No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney at the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears rebounded from a 25-18 first set loss with set wins of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-20 to earn their sixth consecutive region title.

Concordia (30-4) will take on Wingate University in the national quarterfinals on Thursday, December 6 at 12:00 p.m. CST in Pensacola, Fla., while UNK ends its season at 35-3.

CU Volleyball vs. University of Nebraska-Kearney 12.1.2012 - Images by Justin Oakman

“Wow, what a match,” Concordia head coach Brady Starkey said. “If you’re a fan of volleyball and even if you’re not a fan of volleyball, you have to appreciate that match. That has to be one of the toughest teams we’ve faced all year. Their girls came to fight and they did a really good job of exploiting some things that they needed to do to get some wins. It was just an amazing match to me.”

Nebraska-Kearney started the match on a 4-1 run and never gave up the lead in the opening set. The Golden Bears tied the score at 5-5, but the Lopers ensued with a 9-to-3 run to force a Concordia timeout. UNK would gain its largest lead of the set with a seven-point advantage three times resulting in a 25-18 victory.

The Lopers outhit the Bears .425-to-.174 on the attack in set one, led by Ariel Krolikowski and Ashley Leitner with five kills apiece. Setter Jenna Rouzee distributed 16 assists, while adding four digs and a kill.

“They were serving us tough and we were struggling with that,” Starkey commented on the first set loss. “We told ourselves that we’re going to have to find a way to earn points off bad passes. If somebody has to come in and set a ball, they got to push it up to the net so that we can at least take a rip at it and I thought we did a better job of that moving forward.”

UNK rolled its momentum into the second set and gained a 3-1 lead. The Bears tied the scored twice before taking a 7-6 lead. From that point on, the two squads tied the score eight times and exchanged the lead four times. The last lead change of the set came on a UNK attack error that gave the Bears a 16-15 lead, which they didn’t give up throughout the rest of the frame. The Lopers tied the score twice at 19-19 and 23-23, but a kill by Michelle Graham (Woodbury, Minn.) followed by an Ellie Duffy (Fridley, Minn.) kill sealed the win for CU.

After committing just one error in set one, the Lopers were tabbed with eight miscues on the attack in the second for a .160 percentage (16-8-50). CU improved its offense in the second, hitting .277 (15-2-47).

As was the case in the first two sets, UNK opened the third with all the momentum. The Lopers jumped out to a 5-1 lead to force a Concordia timeout. The Bears came out of the break and flipped the momentum with a 6-to-1 run to take a 7-6 lead. The rallies went back and forth over the next seven points with four scoring ties until Nebraska-Kearney took an 11-10 lead.

Trailing 14-12, Concordia scrapped together a long rally out of system and were able to take the point on a Cassie Haag (Plymouth, Minn.) kill, which gave the Bears a boost from the home crowd. They then scored four unanswered points to take a 16-14 lead and forced a UNK timeout. Concordia sustained its lead throughout the remainder of the set en route to a 25-19 win.

“We been practicing a bad first pass and trying to play off that,” Haag noted. “Staying calm up there and being aggressive as possible is something that we always try to do. Even if the point is going on long, I’ve got to think I’m going to jump as high as I can or else I’m not going to end this rally. You want to end the rally at that point when you’re getting tired, so you have to put it all into that approach.”

The status quo didn’t change to begin the fourth set at Nebraska-Kearney claimed the first five points to force a CU timeout. The Bears slowly crept back into the game with an 11-to-6 run to tie the score at 11 apiece. They then took the lead three points later, 13-12, on a kill by Duffy. The Lopers immediately tied the score on the ensuing point, but CU went on a 6-to-2 spree to lead 19-15. The Bears gained their largest lead of the set at 24-18 and punched their ticket to the Elite Eight on another kill by Duffy.

Duffy led the team with 20 kills on 54 attempts (six errors) for a .259 attack percentage. When asked about the opportunity to defend the team’s five consecutive national titles, she kept a level approach. “We try not to think of it that way,” Duffy said. “Every match you’re getting the opportunity to play again and to play with your best friends and have fun. That’s the mindset that we try to keep – keep it light and enjoy it.”

Haag agreed with Duffy’s approach. “I think that’s why we were able to be successful tonight,” Haag mentioned. “Yeah, we lost the first game, and maybe a bunch of other teams would have started freaking out and I can confidently say that didn’t cross anyone’s mind.”

Haag finished the night with 14 kills on 26 attempts without an error for a .538 percentage. She also recorded a season-high six block assists.

Leading the defense was Kayla Koenecke (Delano, Minn.) who tallied 15 digs and three blocks assists. She also achieved her team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 11 kills. Ashley Murtha (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Amanda Konetchy (Victoria, Minn.) posted double-doubles as well. Murtha, her seventh, added 13 kills and 12 digs, while Konethcy, her ninth, with a game-high 54 assists and 11 digs.

Both teams were similar on the attack as CU edged UNK .295-to-.246. Krolikowski led the Lopers with a game-high 21 kills. Liz McGowan posted a game-high 18 digs, while Rouzee served up 49 assists along with 14 digs.

“Proud of kids, they played hard,” Nebraska-Kearney head coach Rick Squires said. “We’ve had a great journey and it was an absolute privilege to be a part of it and we certainly credit our players for an outstanding tournament. I felt like we had some chances tonight and things may have gone differently if we could get over the hump in game two, but a hard-fought match. Ultimately, I am as proud of our team as I would have been if we won the match tonight.”

Starkey will take a 33-match NCAA postseason win streak to the NCAA Championships where the Bears will square off against Wingate. Concordia and Wingate have never faced each other. The Bulldogs swept Tusculum College to claim the Southeast Regional title and enter the Elite Eight with a 32-2 overall record.

Kate Lange, Minnesota Duluth
Emilee Gutzmer, Southwest Minnesota State
Ellie Pesavento, Nebraska-Kearney
Katie Sokolowski, Nebraska-Kearney
Jenna Rouzee, Nebraska-Kearney
Ariel Krolikowski, Nebraska-Kearney
Cassie Haag, Concordia-St. Paul
Kayla Koenecke, Concordia-St. Paul
Ellie Duffy, Concordia-St. Paul
Amanda Konetchy, Concordia-St. Paul
Taylor Dordan, Concordia-St. Paul
Ashley Murtha, Concordia-St. Paul