SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- The Biola volleyball team's season came to an end at the hands of No. 3 Northwestern College (Iowa) in a 28-26, 25-20, 25-16 defeat in the final match of pool play on Thursday night at the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championships.

The Eagles wrap up the 2009 campaign with an overall record of 23-11 and finish third in their pool. The Red Raiders win the pool with a 3-0 record and push their overall mark to 36-2.

Biola had a tough time against a strong Northwestern squad, which managed to outhit the Eagles .231 to .103--its second-lowest attack percentage of the season.

The Eagles were led by Nicolette Mather, who recorded eight kills. Kim Russell added six kills.

The match got off to a thrilling start as the first two games were tight affairs. In the first, neither team had a lead of more than three points during the set. Biola held a two-point edge at 21-19 but Northwestern closed the gap to 21-21. The Eagles came back with a kill by Tavea Hampton to go up 22-21, but a hitting error followed by a service ace gave the Red Raiders their first lead in a while at 23-22. The see-saw then began as the teams went back and forth over the next few points before Northwestern closed out the set with back-to-back kills by Randa Hulstein and Rylee Hulstein to win 28-26.

In the second, Biola again hung with the Red Raiders through and used a 5-0 run to turn a 13-11 deficit into a 16-13 lead. But Northwestern answered back and deflated the Eagles by outscoring them 12-4 the rest of the way to win 25-20.

The Red Raiders kept the momentum going in the third set, jumping out to a quick 15-5 lead. Trailing 19-10, Biola mounted one last attempt to get back in the game, rattling off four-straight points to close the gap to five at 19-14. However, Northwestern answered back again with a four-point run and finished off the Eagles with a 25-16 win.

Hillary Hano led the Red Raiders with 12 kills while Great Plains Athletic Conference Player of the Year Randa Hulstein added 10.

The season was an impressive success for Biola which graduated six seniors and was considered to be in "rebuilding" mode. However, the Eagles finished tied for fourth in the Golden State Athletic Conference and finished the season ranked No. 10 in the final NAIA poll. The Eagles have three seniors on the squad this season and return 12 players next year.