BOX SCORE
COLUMBIA, Mo. --- Biola's run through the 2007 NAIA National Championship tournament came to a sudden end on Saturday morning as the Eagles were swept by GSAC rival and top-seeded Fresno Pacific 30-25, 30-22, 30-28 in the National Semifinals at Columbia College.
Biola had defeated the Sunbirds in a five-game thriller back in October, handing them their only loss of the season. However, on this day, the Eagles were unable to slow the FPU attack. The Sunbirds hit an impressive .333 for the match and played outstanding defense, recording 60 digs and holding Biola to a .206 attack percentage.
Fresno was led by Thais Julio and Marin Canaday, who each posted 14 kills while Fabiana Leomil and Brittany Pierce added 11 apiece.
Junior outside hitter Meghan Warkentin led the Eagles with 14 kills and added five blocks, four digs and a pair of aces. Sophomore Kelsey Christoferson had a match-high six blocks as Biola recorded nine blocks in the match.
Biola jumped out to an early lead in the match, jumping out to an 8-3 lead in game one. Fresno Pacific slowly recovered and eventually tied the game at 15-15. The game went back and forth until the Sunbirds broke a 23-23 tie with a five-point run and held on for the win.
In the second game, there were three lead changes and 11 ties through the first half of the game. With the score knotted at 15-15, Fresno Pacific used another quick, five-point run to take a 20-15 lead which it would not relinquish.
The Sunbirds took control of the third game early, taking a quick 8-4 lead and extending it to 15-9 at the midway point. The Eagles still trailed later in the game at 21-15, but mounted a vailiant come-back attempt with a 7-2 run to pull within a point at 23-22. Fresno scored four of the next five points to take back the lead at 27-23 before the Eagles rallied again to score four-straight and tie the game at 27-27. Two points later the game was knotted at 28-28, but Fresno got a monster kill from Leomil and wrapped up the match on an attack error by Biola.
Sophomore libero Katie Stevens posted nine digs for Biola, giving her 601 for the season to establish a new school record for digs in a season. In her two seasons with the Eagles, Stevens has 1,125 digs–which ranks her 10th all-time at Biola–and is averaging 4.54 per game, just over one dig per game better than anyone else in school history.
Sophomore setter Abbie Wright had 19 assists and 10 digs while senior Christina Perkins added 21 assists.
For their play in the tournament, Warkentin and middle blocker Kristen Peterson were named to the All-NAIA Tournament team. Warkentin recorded 81 kills (4.50/game) and 14 blocks in five matches during the tournament while Peterson recorded 50 kills (2.78/game) and added 19 blocks (1.06/game) while posting a .370 attack percentage.
Biola ends its 2007 campaign with a 32-8 record–its best record since the 1997 season when the Eagles were 31-7 and reach the NAIA Championship game.
The Sunbirds improve to 36-1 and advance to the championship final where they will meet California Baptist. The Lancers defeated Concordia University in the other match of an All-GSAC semifinals. It was the first time in NAIA history that a National Semifinal featured four teams from the same conference.
