This is the second meeting between Biola and Hastings this season as the Eagles and Broncos met all the way back on Aug. 26 in Biola's seventh match of the season and Hastings' first. The Broncos earned a 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-17) victory in front of their home crowd at their season-opening tournament. Hastings rode a big advantage in blocking and serving to a victory that day and hit over .300 while doing it. Biola's service game has gotten a lot stronger since that point and could turn out to be stronger than Hastings' this afternoon, but it will take a massive effort from the Eagles to get their attacks around the Broncos blockers and onto the floor with regularity.
Hastings comes into today holding its opponents to just a .104 hitting percentage through its first 32 matches of the season and allows an average of fewer than 10 kills-per-set to its opponents. The Broncos are leading the tournament in blocks, averaging 3.6 blocks-per-set through their first three matches in Sioux City. On the flip side, Biola is averaging a .210 hitting percentage at 13.1 kills-per-set this season. The Eagles are hitting .187 and averaging 12.7 kills-per-set through their first four matches at this tournament (including opening round against La Sierra).
What got the Eagles through yesterday's thriller was when its physicality increased and it started winning battles at the net and mentally outlasting its opponent on long rallies. Biola ended up with 15 blocks last match and has won every match but one this season when its managed to get more than 10 blocks on the board. If the Eagles can come out strong early against a big and dominant attacking team it could stand a chance to grab a set and start making things interesting.
The challenge will be getting its own attacks through the skilled front row of the Broncos. Hastings leads the country in blocking this season and has six 6-footers on its roster, including three that are 6-foot-2-inches or taller. Hastings has averaged more than three blocks-per-set this season and 18 matches this season with at least 10 blocks.
Hastings' only losses this season came to tournament teams that all also advanced into this round of 16. They lost in five to Oklahoma City, in four to Midland and in four to Dordt in September and October matches. However, they did face that very good Midland team three times and came away with a 2-1 overall record against them, including a four-set win in the GPAC Tournament Final.
This is just the second all-time meeting between these two programs, with the first meeting coming in that match earlier this year. Logan Drueppel (#18) was the player to watch in that contest with a match-high 11 kills, .412 hitting percentage and four blocks. That is no surprise, because that student-athlete leads all NAIA attackers in hitting percentage with a .419 number in 32 matches in 2016. Hastings does a great job of spreading the ball around to its weapons though, resulting in no player having more than 309 kills, but six different players having over 100. They even feature a rare player who rotates in as a setter and attacker throughout the match.
No matter what happens in today's match its been a fantastic tournament for this Biola team and a fantastic final trip to Sioux City, Iowa after nine consecutive years. Next year the Eagles will compete in the NCAA Division II, the PacWest Conference and should compete in postseason competition through the National Christian College Athletic Association, which holds its tournament in Kissimmee, Fla.
Watch today's match LIVE via
NAIANetwork.com. The NAIA offers a single-day video pass for $9.95, a tournament pass for $39.95 or an ALL tournament pass (all NAIA tournaments for 2016-17) for $75.00.
Biola is producing and audio-only live broadcast for free (featuring play-by-play from Josh Banker) at its own
video portal. The NAIA has an agreement that does not allow teams to produce live video of the match, but the video broadcast will be released in the on demand portion of our video portal 48 hours following the event.
The NAIA also provides live statistics of the match via DakStats Webcasts. Visit
this page for live statistics throughout the tournament. Fans can also follow us on our social media (@BiolaAthletics). Twitter updates will be available throughout the tournament and highlights, photos and more will be posted to our Facebook account.
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