Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- All's well that ends well. Biola Volleyball's time in Chase Gymnasium definitely ended well on Saturday evening as the Eagles defeated La Sierra 3-1 (25-10, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16) in a NAIA National Championship Opening Round match to earn a berth to the NAIA Final Site in Sioux City.
 
The Eagles clinched their 10^th-consecutive trip to the NAIA National Tournament Final Site and did so in one fewer sets than it took them to beat La Sierra earlier this year.
 
"Being at home was helpful, and having almost a week to prepare for them really helped us out," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "It was a really good team effort and we are happy to be going back to Iowa."
 
Biola came out looking to make a statement early on in the match and put forth one of its most dominating (if not the single most dominating) sets of the entire season. The Eagles hit as scorching .519 in the first set as they cruised to a 25-10 win to set the tone for the night.
 
Hannah van Warmerdam began her very solid night with a six-kill performance in the opening frame and was .500 hitting as an individual. In addition to its 16 kills in 27 swings Biola used the block as a big weapon to get separation from the Golden Eagles early on.  Biola put up eight of its 10 blocks on the night in the first and second set.
 
La Sierra showed the tenacity that helped them earn the CalPac tournament crown and a berth in this game by winning the second set and digging up all the attacks Biola was throwing at them to drop the Eagles' hitting percentage all the way down to .086.
 
"La Sierra was so hard to put away. Kudos to them on getting more balls up than anyone I've seen all year," said Seltzer.
 
That dip was just a blip on the radar though as the hard work put in by the Eagles' back row and some solid decisions by the Biola setters had the team clicking on all cylinders once again from the third set on until the match was tucked away.
 
Van Varmerdam would end the evening with 16 kills and lead the team with 38 attack attempts. She was joined in double-digits by Karly Dantuma who was rock steady from start to finish in this one and led the team with a .478 attack percentage as she landed 12 kills and had just one attack error.
 
Tess Van Grouw, the Eagles' lone all-conference representative, had another fantastic match with 16 digs and a service ace. She did a great job of helping the Eagles' young back row keep cool under the immense pressure of a first nationals match. Biola would end with 64 total digs, compared to just 44 from La Sierra.
 
Not to be overlooked, Olivia Sorensen appeared to be in on everything throughout the night. The senior middle blocker recorded seven kills and a solid hitting percentage while finding her way to five of the Eagles' 10 blocks, including one of the team's three solo blocks.
 
Head Coach Aaron Seltzer will hope for a whole lot more play like this out of his team as they pack their bags for Sioux City where they will compete in pool play at the Tyson Event Center beginning Nov. 29.