Box Score
SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- Facing its first test of three in pool play at the 2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championships, No. 21 Biola Volleyball surged out to an early lead and put forth a fantastic defensive effort to earn a 3-0 (27-25, 27-25, 25-22) victory over No. 13 MidAmerica Nazarene.
 
"We started strong, which helped us because MNU is a smart, strong team that knows how to work its way back into the match," said Assistant Coach Abbie Wright.
 
The Eagles flew out to a 7-1 start to the first set, as it went without an error and was executing its well-crafted gameplan to put the Pioneers on their heels early on in the contest. MNU would eventually work its way all the way back in the set, but the early confidence built from the great start would help Biola overcome quite a few obstacles en route to its eventual three-set victory.
 
Biola built a 20-15 win and was well on its way to wrapping up a comfortable first set victory when MidAmerica Nazarene managed to go on a run where it scored seven of the next eight points to completely flip the script on Head Coach Aaron Seltzer's squad and take a 22-21 lead.
 
Since the Pioneers were favored in the match that run sucked all the air out of the arena in a hurry as doubt began to creep in. However, that doubt would be obliterated thanks to the Eagles' ability to sideout down the stretch and BU would win the set because of scoring four of the final five points of the set.
 
Karly Dantuma was fantastic in the first set as she got six kills with just one error to help elevate the Eagles to the early upset. She was also one of the many athletes to lead the emotional charge for BU as she and her teammates were loud, communicating and helping each other work through the match from start-to-finish.
 
Set two had just as many twists and turns as set one, except it was in set two that MidAmerica Nazarene got off to the hot start. MNU began the set with a 4-1 lead and held onto its lead until the Eagles worked their first tie at 13-13. It was a block by Olivia Sorensen and Brooke Watts that earned the Eagles that tie. Biola was strong on the block throughout the contest, ending with 10 blocks in the three-set win.
 
Biola would surge just a bit after tying the set and got its first lead of the set at 16-15 when Brinley Beresford found Sorensen for a clean kill in the middle. The Eagles' middles were active throughout the day and seemed to step up at just the right moments. They would end the match with a combined 17 kills and seven blocks.
 
"I thought we found our middles at the right times," said Wright. "We bookmarked our middles and found them at the beginning and the end of the game, right when we needed to."
 
That 16-15 lead did not hold throughout the second set though as MNU's All-American outside started to heat up and their middle took advantage of running the slide several times. They would actually have two set points (24-23, 25-24), but Biola overcame both (one with a MNU double and the other with a massive kill from Hannah van Warmerdam) to eventually force its own set point at 26-25. The Eagles got a kill from Stephanie Jewett to end the set at 27-25 and go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The Eagles' setters and hitters were in sync in a major way in the second set as the team hit .444 with 19 of its 27 points coming off kills.
 
After securing the two-set advantage the pressure of closing out the national tournament match fell squarely on the shoulders of Seltzer's young squad. After trailing twice early in the set the team took a lead at 8-7 and never trailed again in the set as it worked a 25-22 win to secure the sweep.
 
Fittingly the final kill came from Ally Forsberg, who had one of her best matches in her two years as an Eagle. The middles and back row were really what this match was all about as Biola was able to hand MidAmerica Nazarene its eighth loss (and sixth 3-0 loss) of the 2016 season.
 
Our passing won the game for us; it is what kept us in it. They did very, very well," said Wright.
 
Tess Van Grouw ended with nine digs, Beresford with eight, Moons with seven and Anna Houser and Kaitlin O'Brien with five a piece, but that group was way more active and integral than the numbers would suggest. They were able to keep a vey dangerous offensive team to just 39 total kills with all but three players being held to three or fewer.
 
The Eagles had five players with at least seven kills. Dantuma led the way with 11 and was followed by Forsberg (9), Sorensen (8), van Warmerdam (8) and Stephanie Jewett (7).
 
"This win means that we can prepare for our next opponent. A win is just good. It takes the pressure off," said Wright.
 
Biola improves to 25-9 on the season and will face the other 1-0 team in Pool D, No. 4 Lindsey Wilson (32-1) on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. PT.