SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- Biola held leads in the first two sets, but could not hold on to either, running out of gas and falling in the quarterfinals of the 2011 NAIA Volleyball National Championships, losing 26-24, 25-23, 25-16 to No. 3 Lee University (Tenn.) on Friday night at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.
The Eagles end the season at 27-13, reaching the quarterfinals for the 10th time in 11 all-time tournament appearances and being one of the highest remaining seeds in the round of eight. The Flames, who are now 34-2 and have now won 28-straight matches, advance to the semifinals where they face No. 2 Texas-Brownsville on Saturday.
Biola was led by freshman middle blocker Amy Weststeyn, who finished an impressive tournament appearance with 11 kills. She finished her first NAIA Tournament with 64 kills in five matches and had the third-best attack percentage in the tournament field. Sophomore right-side hitter Chelsee Arnitz added 10 kills and hit .474 overall.
Biola jumped out to a big lead early on in the first set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Lee slowly began to climb back into the set, but still trailed by five at 21-16. However, the Flames started to come alive, rattling off a 5-1 run to cut the score to one at 22-21. After exchanging points, Christine Douglas recorded a kill on a wide open attack to make it a 24-22 game. But Lee then scored three-straight to take its first lead of the set at 25-24, then capped it off on a Biola error.
In the second set, the Flames used an early 5-0 run to take a 9-4 lead. Trailing 11-7 a few points later, Biola went on a 6-0 run took a 12-11 lead thanks in large part to three big kills by Weststeyn. The Eagles continued to lead 17-15 a bit later before a long 9-3 run by Lee made it 24-20 and put the game out of reach. Biola made things interesting with a three-point run, but could not close out it as the Flames got the 25-23 win.
Lee then jumped all over the Eagles in the third set, opening a 5-0 lead, stretching it to 12-4 and cruising to the win as they ran out of gas.
Lee was led by Ariene Ferreira with 12 kills and Stephanie Todd, who had 10 kills.
