SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- No. 21 Biola Volleyball is competing at the NAIA Volleyball National Championship for the 16^th and final time in 2016 as it starts play at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City.
 
This year marks 10 consecutive national championship final site berths for Head Coach Aaron Seltzer's team and is the team's ninth year in a row visiting the host city of Sioux City, Iowa.
 
Biola is the third seed in Pool D at this year's championship, which also features No. 4 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), No. 13 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Tabor (Kan.). The pool play round runs from Tuesday Nov. 29 through Thursday Dec. 1. Each team plays each other once and the top two teams in the pool advance to the national quarterfinals (single-elimination).
 
Seltzer's teams have made the national quarterfinals or later in this tournament nine different times, including each of the last six years. Advancing to the quarterfinals this year would be considered an upset based on national rankings and seeds, but experience is definitely on the side of the Eagles, as BU has been at this tournament almost double the combined number of times the other members of this pool have been (9).
 
Biola is 4-0 all-time against its pool opponents with two wins in as many meetings against both MidAmerica Nazarene and Lindsey Wilson. Biola has never faced Tabor despite both programs having more than three decades of history.

The Eagles come into final site competition with a 24-9 overall record following its 3-1 victory over La Sierra as it hosted the opening round matchup in La Mirada last week. Biola finished the regular season in second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Biola finished behind just the undefeated (31-0) Westmont Warriors. The Warriors are the No. 1 overall seed in this tournament and are the only undefeated team left in the NAIA.
 

Lindsey Wilson (Columbia, Ky.) NAIA Rank: #4 Record: 31-1	Lindsey Wilson comes into the tournament with the best record in the pool and second-best record in the NAIA, 31-1. The Blue Raiders had an opening round bye as the No. 4 overall tournament seed. They finished the season as the Mid-South Conference Champions and Tournament Champions.   Their lone loss of the year came against a conference opponent, a four-set loss to No. 11 Georgetown (Ky.). The Blue Raiders lead the nation in hitting with 14.3 kills-per-set and they are second in the NAIA in hitting percentage at .288. LWC has 1,500 kills on just 2,651 attack attempts this season, which means they bury a ball once in every 1.7 swings on average. This year marks the Blue Raiders' sixth all-time tournament appearance and sixth in a row. They were eliminated from last year's tournament by way of a three-set sweep by Columbia in the national semifinals.   The Blue Raiders' attack is much more spread out than it has been in previous seasons. The team was led by two hitters with over 400 kills last year, while in 2016 no one has more than 282, but eight players have at least 100. TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE: 6th ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: 9-9 ALL-TIME vs. BIOLA: 0-2
MidAmerica Nazarene (Olathe, Kan.) NAIA Rank: #13 Record: 27-7	MidAmerica Nazarene comes in as the No. 2 seed in Pool D. The Pioneers are making their second tournament appearance in a row and fifth since the 2011 season. They also earned a first round bye as the No. 13 team in the nation. The Pioneers completed their season with a 27-7 overall record and won the Heart Conference regular season title with a 12-1 conference mark. They lost in four to the tournament champion, No. 8 Grand View. Five of their seven losses this season have been three-set sweeps, all against ranked opponents.   The Pioneers' claim to fame is their talent up front. MNU is inside of the top-10 in the NAIA in blocks with an average of 2.5 blocks-per-set this season. They also run a very efficient offense with a .255 team hitting percentage and kills on every 1.33 attack attempts. That offense is paced by one of the nation's top attackers, Giselle Silva. The Brazilian is second in the NAIA with 560 kills this year. TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE: 5th ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: 11-7 ALL-TIME vs. BIOLA: 0-2
Tabor College (Hillsboro, Kan.) NAIA Rank: N/A Record: 26-9	The Tabor Bluejays are making their first-ever NAIA Volleyball National Championship appearance. The team from Hillsboro, Kansas earned its trip to Sioux City by defeating Wayland Baptist (Texas) in an opening round matchup in Plainview, Texas a week ago.   The Bluejays come into the tournament with a 26-9 overall record and are the fourth seed in Pool D as an unranked team. Tabor was 20-2 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play this season and was the regular season and tournament runner-up in that conference.   Tabor is 0-2 this season against opponents ranked inside of the top-25. They do have two wins over opponents who were receiving votes. The Bluejays come into tournament play with wins in 11 of their last 12 matches. Their only loss was to Ottawa (Kan.) in the KCAC Tournament finale.   Statistically, Tabor has the most efficient offense in the pool with kills on every 1.31 swings. They average 13.4 kills-per-set and are one of 25 teams in the nation to reach the 1,700 kill plateau this season. Tena Loewen is a major reason for the success of the Bluejays this year. She comes into the tournament third in the nation with 555 kills. TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE: 1st ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: 1-0 (opening round) ALL-TIME vs. BIOLA: 0-0

Biola begins pool play with a 9:00 a.m. PT match against MidAmerica Nazarene on Tuesday. They face Lindsey Wilson at 7:00 a.m. PT on Wednesday and complete their three guaranteed games at 7:00 a.m. PT on Thursday against Tabor.
 
All matches will take place at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast all 63 matches, including pool play. A pool play pass is $24.95 and an all-championship package is available at $39.95.
 
Josh Banker will also call each of Biola's games. An audio-only stream for all matches is available LIVE and FREE at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/biola/. The HD video version of that broadcast will be made available on demand as soon as the match comes to an end.
 
Follow along with the tournament from start to finish with previews and recaps on athletics.biola.edu and photos, video and more @BiolaAthletics on our social media pages.