LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The 2009 NAIA Volleyball Championship Tournament schedule and pool assignments were released today by the NAIA with Biola earning the No. 10 seed in the tournament and landing in Pool C with No. 3 seed Northwestern (Iowa).

Twenty-four teams remain in the NAIA Tournament field after 12 first-round games played at campus sites on Saturday. The winners of those 12 matches joined host Morningside University (Iowa) and 11 teams which received first-round byes at the final site. The remainder of the tournament takes place at the Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, Iowa, Dec. 1-5.

The NAIA Tournament begins with pool play, consisting of six, four-team pools. The top two teams from each pool advance to the bracket portion of the championship with the four highest remaining seeds receiving a bye into the quarterfinals.

Biola opens the tournament on Tuesday, Dec. 1, taking on Indiana Tech at 5:30 p.m (CT). Indiana Tech, which was ranked No. 17 in the final NAIA national rankings, is the only team in the pool which the Eagles have faced this season with Biola winning 3-1 at the Concordia University Labor Day Festival back in early September. The Warriors finished the season with a 33-6 record and earned a berth into the tournament as the champions of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference where they were a perfect 14-0. Indiana Tech defeated Walsh (Ohio) 3-1 (25-22, 28-26, 14-25, 25-17) in an Opening-Round match on Saturday.

The second pool play opponent for the Eagles is Shawnee State University, the champions of the American Mideast Conference, who are 31-3 overall. The Bears enter the tournament riding a 25-match winning streak including a dominating three-set sweep over Union College (Ky.) 25-19, 25-13, 25-12 in an Opening-Round match. The match, which takes place Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 5:30 p.m. (CT), is the first meeting between the two schools.

Pool play wraps up on Thursday, Dec. 3, with a marquee matchup between Biola and No. 3 Northwestern College (Iowa) at 8:00 p.m. (CT). Northwester, ranked No. 3 in the final NAIA poll, is located just one hour from Sioux City and packed the arena for all of their matches in last year's tournament. The winners of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Northwestern wrapped up the regular season at 33-2. Biola has won the two previous meetings between the two schools which have both come in NAIA Tournament play. In 2008, the Eagles ended the Red Raiders season with a sweep in the Quarterfinals.

Biola wrapped up what was supposed to be a rebuilding year with an impressive 22-9 record, ranked No. 10 in the final NAIA National Poll. The Eagles will be making their third-straight trip to the NAIA National Tournament and ninth trip overall. Biola is 34-16 all-time at the NAIA Tournament and has reached at least the quarterfinals in each of its previous eight trips.

For more information on the tournament, visit the NAIA Volleyball Tournament page at http://naia.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/09-championship.html.