Box Score
SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- The last three days were spent flying, driving and frolicking in the snow, but on Tuesday it was time for No. 5 Biola Volleyball to get down to business at the 2015 NAIA Volleyball Championships.
 
Biola was among the first group of games during this first day of pool play and it took a bit of time to shake the rust off in the early stages against its opponent, No. 23 Madonna (MI). The Eagles dropped the first set before cruising to a 3-1 win behind some strong performances from its upper classmen.
 
"You've got to love the first game of the tournament," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "It is where you get everybody's jitters out and get them used to how they need to play. After we settled in after the first game you just saw a lot of our seniors step it up."
 
The Crusaders won the first set behind three separate runs of four or more points as Biola struggled to side out throughout. The Eagles put together a streak of five out of six points late in the set behind Becca Branch serving, but it ultimately fell short with a 21-25 loss.
 
That momentum from late in the first set carried straight over into the second set as Biola sprinted out to a 9-1 set lead after Seltzer helped the team refocus and get back to its strengths.
 
"This is where they get their experience. This is where they learn what it is like and what they need to do to prepare to play," said Seltzer.
 
Ashton Arbuthnot got the party started for Biola's resurgence with back-to-back service aces. Then the Eagles' attackers took over as Britta Blaser, Lauren Hoenecke and Crissy Cunningham piled on seven kills to extend the early lead. Biola would go on to win the second set 25-17.
 
Splitting the first two sets made the third the most critical of the day, and it was worth every penny as the lead changed hands or was tied 11 times throughout the nail-biter of a set.
 
The final score of that set doesn't give the impression that it was that close, because Biola won the final seven points of the set to close out the 25-20 set win to gain the advantage in the match.
 
"We just needed to shake our nerves off," said Hoenecke. "A lot of the girls, almost half the team, had not been to nationals, so it is a new experience being in the arena and playing there where it is pretty loud is such a different experience."
 
The ultimate difference in this match was the depth and senior leadership that this stacked Biola lineup offers. It was emotion that helped Madonna out to the early lead in the match, but a never-ending supply of arms and blockers helped the Eagles outlast the Crusaders in the long run.
 
The Eagles clinched the 3-1 match victory with a 25-19 win in set four to set up a date with the other winning team from Pool E, Evangel (Mo.), Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. PT.
 
Strong performances from the Eagles' upper classmen carried the team down the stretch, including a huge day for Hoenecke, who played a big role in Biola's second-set win, and throughout the match, with her 12 kills and six blocks.
 
Arbuthnot and Branch were having a field day with the middles as Alyssa Mason also had another huge performance. The Eagles' all-conference middle blocker led the team with 15 kills and a part of eight blocks.
 
Biola was effective on the serve with four service aces to Madonna's one, but the biggest area of difference was in the blocking numbers. Biola's attackers hit straight through the Crusaders' blocks, while the Eagles managed to put up 15 blocks on the day.
 
The win pushes the Eagles to 27-3 and helps them get to 1-0 in pool play. The top two teams in each pool advance to the single-elimination stage of this competition, which begins Friday. Madonna fell to 34-7 after the loss and will face the other 0-1 team in the pool, No. 8 Park (Mo.), tomorrow afternoon.
 
"It feels great to win," said Hoenecke. "I think we are starting the way we should be. Not meaning that I think it was automatic that we should have won, but I think we are setting us up well to have a good rest of the week."