LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The Biola University volleyball team enjoyed an extraordinary season in 2008, reaching the NAIA Final Four for the second-straight season, finishing third overall and placing second in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

Head Coach Aaron Seltzer guided the Eagles to a 31-4, the best mark in the program's 40-year history. He was rewarded by being named the American Volleyball Association West Region and GSAC Coach of the Year. During the season Biola continually moved up in the national rankings, reaching as high as second. It was the highest the Eagles had ever reached in a regular season ranking. In fact, their lone losses came to the two teams which played in the championship game: Concordia and Fresno Pacific.

Biola also placed second in GSAC play with a record of 17-3. It was the team's best conference finish since 2003 and just the fourth time the Eagles had finished in the top three of the NAIA's most challenging conference.

A large measure of the team's success came at home where the Eagles posted a 10-1 record on the season. The home-court advantage came thanks to boisterous crowds which packed Chase Gymnasium on a nightly basis. Biola's average home attendance was 511 and the Eagles played in front of crowds of more than 900 fans on four different occasions. The biggest crowd of the season was on Senior Night when Biola defeated arch-rival Azusa Pacific University in a five-game thriller in front of 1,159 fans.

The Eagles opened the season with an impressive 15-0 record, matching the second-best start in school history. After back-to-back losses to Concordia and Fresno Pacific, Biola rattled off nine-straight victories including exacting revenge in a five-set win over Concordia.

After ending the regular season at 27-3, Biola earned an at-large berth at the NAIA National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa. The Eagles had little trouble sweeping through pool play, defeating No. 14 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in three and downing No. 11 Madonna (Mich.) and No. 24 Lubbock Christian (Texas) in four.

Playing in front of a hometown crowd of well over 300, Biola punched its ticket to the Final Four with a dominating sweep over No. 10 Northwestern (Iowa) in the quarterfinals. The Eagles faced No. 3 Concordia in their semifinal match. The two teams battled back-and-forth in the first set but Concordia edged out Biola 29-27. Biola was unable to get any momentum back after that loss as Concordia moved on to the finals with a three-game sweep.

Two Biola players were named to the All-NAIA Championship Tournament team. Senior outside hitters Jessica Buffum (San Jose, Calif.) and Meghan Warkentin (Visalia, Calif.) played outstanding in the tournament. Buffum, who had injured her shoulder during the final week of the regular season, finished the tournament with 62 kills and 12 blocks in five matches while Warkentin had 52 kills and nine blocks.

Warkentin also earned NAIA First-Team All-America honors for the third straight season. She was joined by senior middle blocker Kristen Peterson (Peoria, Ariz.), who was named to the Third-Team.

Warkentin, Buffum and Peterson were three of six seniors on the 2008 Biola squad. Setter Christina Perkins (Murrieta, Calif.) and outside hitter Maggie McGill (Le Mesa, Calif.) and Kelsey Mitchell (El Cajon, Calif.) also played in their final season with the team.

Individually, a number of players reached personal milestones throughout the season. Mitchell became the 10th player in school history to record 1,000 kills, reaching the milestone in a home game against The Master's College in Novemeber. Mitchell wraps up her career with 1,067 career kills. Warkentin also capped off an impressive career with 353 kills in her senior season, giving her 1,508 in three seasons at Biola. 

Junior libero Katie Stevens roared past the school record for digs in a career, finishing 2008 with 426 to give her 1,551 in just three years. She will return in 2009 to add to her total.