SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- Biola overcame a late eight-point deficit in the fourth set to pull out an impressive come-from-behind win to defeat Freed-Hardeman 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 29-27 in a pool play match at the 2011 NAIA Volleyball National Championships on Wednesday afternoon in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Eagles pick up their fifth-straight win and improve to 25-12 on the season. The victory assures Biola of finishing no worse than second in Pool D and a trip in the bracket portion of the tournament which begins on Friday. The loss drops the Lions to 28-10.
Biola opened the match is solid fashion, controlling the first two sets and cruising through much of the first the third before things got rough. With the Eagles leading 15-9, the Lions came alive and went on a long 14-5 run to take a commanding 23-20 lead and took the third set 25-23.
Freed-Hardeman then seemed unable to do anything wrong in the fourth set, using a long 16-6 run to take a 19-11 lead. The Lions would continue to lead 21-13, when the Eagles came alive. Biola rattled off four-straight to cut the lead to four, then after a few Freed-Hardeman points made it a 23-17 advantage, the Eagles scored five-straight to tie the set at 23-23.
Biola then fought off four consecutive set points by the Lions and tied the set again at 27-27 with a kill by Sarah McAtee. Nicolette Mather then slammed down an overpass to give Biola its first lead since a 5-3 edge early in the set and, more importantly, match-point. After a short rally and a great defensive play by Joy Talcott Mather slammed down the winner to give the Eagles a 29-27 victory.
Freshman middle blocker Amy Weststeyn led Biola with 15 kills and added five blocks while junior outside Christine Douglas added 14 to move into ninth place on the all-time Biola kill list with 1,018 in two seasons with the Eagles. McAtee contributed 14 kills with Rachel Buckley and Chelsee Arnitz adding eight each.
Fernanda Ferreira led Freed-Hardeman with 15 kills and eight blocks.
The defense by both teams was fantastic with both teams combining to keep rallies alive throughout. The Eagles managed to out-dig the Lions with Biola recording 78 and Freed-Hardeman tallying 70. Emily Weingartner had 19 digs to lead all players with Christian Woodruff adding 14. Senior Joy Talcott had 10 digs and added three kills on her 22nd birthday with Justine Schoneveld adding 10 digs and 19 assists.
Biola closes out pool play on Thursday with a match against the pool's top seed Embry-Riddle (Fla.). Both teams have won their first two pool play matches and are advancing out of pool play and into the bracket portion of the tournament. However, the winner of the match will have a slightly easier road the rest of the way than the second-place team in the pool. The match tips off at 3:15 p.m. CT (1:15 p.m. PT).
