Box Score SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- The 2015 Biola Volleyball season ended one day earlier than anticipated as the No. 5 Eagles bowed out of the NAIA National Tournament in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 14-16) loss to No. 4 Columbia (Mo.).
 
The season ended with a match that lived up to every bit of hype you'd expect about a match between two top-5 programs that are perennial powerhouses at the NAIA National Tournament.
 
Biola came into the match following a three-set sweep of No. 21 Madonna and the Cougars entered play with a perfect 3-0 pool play mark and first round bye.
 
The first two sets were dripping with drama as the two teams traded points and kept the scores tight until very late in each set. The score of the first set was tied at 17, but the Cougars would score eight of the final 10 points to close out the set. It seemed as if the Eagles were destined to take the second set when the score was 14-9 early, but a run of six-straight CC points, aided by a bunch of hitting mistakes from BU, allowed the Cougars right back into the set they'd go on to win.
 
It was at this point that a good majority of the crowd inside Gateway Arena at the Tyson Events Center was ready to write off the No. 5 Eagles. However, it would not be easy for Columbia to work its way to a sweep of a Biola team that has not lost in three sets since the NAIA Championship Match in 2013.
 
Staring defeat straight in the face Karly Dantuma and the Eagles stormed out to a 9-3 lead in the third set as they battled for their tournament lives. Dantuma would gather four kills, a block and just two attack errors in the third after having just four kills through the first two sets combined.
 
Unlike the lead in the second set that dissolved like a package od pop rocks, the Eagles were able to hold on to the third set lead in the first of the two most convincing set wins of the evening. 14-11 was the closest Columbia would come to overtaking that third set lead as the energy in the gym quickly began to bubble over for BU.
 
That energy carried over into the fourth set as once again the Eagles stormed out to a big lead. Dantuma continued to soar while Alyssa Mason and Britta Blaser ratcheted up their performances as the Eagles quickly found themselves a 15-7 lead. That lead would melt down to as close as five, but ultimately a kill from Mason would send the Eagles and Cougars to what looked at one point to be a completely impossible fifth set.
 
And what a fifth set it was. Neither team allowed the other an inch as the score was never separated by more than three points and the lead changed hands or was tied 14 different times.
 
An attack error from Columbia, one of the Cougars' 39 in the match, gave Biola the 11-10 lead and had the team and its fans feeling sky high as it dreamed of a spot in the semifinals.
 
Then, the Cougars put things back together and were able to tie the match, take the lead and never again look back. It was back-to-back attack errors from Biola that ended the match with a 16-14 advantage to CC even after BU successfully defended two straight set points to tie the match at 14.
 
Penny Liu was huge for the Cougars with 25 kills, four blocks and 11 digs. She took 60 swings to get those 25 kills as the go-to option for Columbia. She was the team's leader in attack percentage with a .250 mark while the team hit just .126 overall.
 
Mason was again the Eagles' leading attacker as she ended with 16 total kills and a .262 attack percentage. She also got her hands on six different blocks as the Eagles out blocked the Cougars 16-13 on a night where both teams shut down the other's attack effectively throughout.
 
So the Eagles end the season 30-4 while Columbia continues on to face No. 1 Lindsey Wilson in Saturday morning's NAIA National Tournament Semifinals.
 
Tonight marked the last night of the wonderful careers of seniors Lauren Hoenecke, Mason, Blaser, Joclyn Kirton, Tori Moons, Ashton Arbuthnot, Alex Brehaut and Crissy Cunningham.

For more information on the tournament visit http://athletics.biola.edu/sports/2015/11/28/WVB_1128152709.aspx?id=213.