BOX SCORE
SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- Biola picked up its third win in as many days, defeating No. 11 Madonna University 25-15, 26-28, 25-21, 25-19 on Thursday night to win its pool and advance to the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Eagles improve to 30-3 with the victory marking the fifth time in school history the team has won 30 or more matches. Biola also finishes pool play with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to bracket portion of the tournament, earning a first-round bye and facing the winner of the Northwestern College (Iowa) and Bellevue University (Neb.) match on Friday morning.
The Crusaders fall to 35-7 on the season, suffering their third-striaght loss in the tournament and failing to make it out of pool play despite a high-ranking coming in.
Biola continued its playoff run with another strong match as senior outside hitter Meghan Warkentin recorded a team-high 15 kills and junior middle blocker Kelsey Christoferson added 11. But the real story continued to be Biola's impressive defense. The Eagles recorded 11 blocks in the four-game match and held the Crusaders to a .160 attack percentage.
Biola got off to an impressive start in the match, jumping out to a quick 9-3 lead with six kills and a block to start things off. Madonna cut the lead to three at 13-10, but the Eagles kept the pressure up and closed out the match with a five-point run to take the first game 25-15.
In the second set, the Crusaders opened with strong serving to take an early 9-5 lead. After a sideout, freshman Joy Talcott came on to serve for the Eagles and served six-straight points including a remarkable five consecutive aces to put Biola back on top at 12-9. The teams continued to battle back and forth until a short run gave Madonna set point at 24-22. The Eagles came right back to take a 25-24 lead after an attack error a kill by Tavea Hampton and a block by Hampton and Kristen Peterson. However, after losing 26-25, the Crusaders answered with three-straight points of its own to win the game 28-26.
That momentum carried over into the third game for Madonna, which jumped out quickly to an 8-2 lead. But Biola took momentum right back with a 15-4 run to go up 17-12. The two teams exchanged points the rest of the way but the Crusaders could get no closer than three down the stretch and Biola held on for the 25-21 win to go up 2-1 in the match.
Biola took care of business in the fourth set as Talcott again served strong, picking up her sixth ace of the match to start a four-point run which put the Eagles up 8-4 early. Madonna pull back to within one at 14-13, but a 5-1 run by Biola put the Eagles back up on top to stay as they went on for the 25-19 win.
Peterson, a senior middle blocker, had eight kills and added four blocks for the Eagles. To go along with her six service aces, Talcott added a kill and four digs to go along with some strong back-row defense as did junior libero Katie Stevens who had 19 digs. Stevens, who continues to add on to her school record for digs in a career, now has 58 digs in three tournament matches and is averaging 5.27 digs per set in Iowa.
Biola now advances to the knock-out round of the tournament. The Eagles and the other six GSAC teams advanced out of the pool play portion meaning all seven GSAC teams are among the final 12 in the tournament. No. 1 Fresno Pacific, No. 3 Concordia and No. 4 California Baptist joined No. 2 Biola with first-round byes. Vanguard and Point Loma Nazarene face each other in a first-round match with the winner facing Concordia while No. 5 Azusa Pacific takes on Lubbock Christian with the winner facing Cal Baptist.
Biola has advanced to the NAIA Quarterfinals in each of its seven tournament appearances in school history. The Eagles have reached the championship match twice, once in 1985 and again in 1997. With its three victories so far, Biola now has an overall record of 33-15 in NAIA Tournament matches. In addition, their 30-3 regular-season record has clinched the best winning percentage in school history and three more victories could match the school record of 33 wins set during the 1985 season.
