POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. --- It's the final week of the 2018 Biola Volleyball season. The Eagles have taken flight and find themselves in Point Lookout, Mo. for the 2018 National Christian College Athletic Association National Championship tournament.

LAST WEEK: No events.

THIS WEEK: vs Piedmont International University (NCCAA Pool Play) - Thursday Nov. 29 at 10:00 a.m. PT; vs Southwestern Christian University (NCCAA Pool Play) - Thursday Nov. 29 at 2:00 p.m. PT; vs Campbellsville University (NCCAA Pool Play) - Friday Nov. 30 at 8:00 a.m. PT; NCCAA Semifinal Match (if qualified) - Friday Nov. 30 at 2:30 p.m. PT;  NCCAA Championship Match (if qualified) - Saturday Dec. 1 at 11:00 a.m. PT

MULTIMEDIA: All matches of the NCCAA National Championship tournament will be streamed live via the NCCAA Network. Video passes are $6.95 per match OR viewers can purchase a "tournament pass" that includes all matches for $33.95. Live stats will be available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cofo/.

TICKETS: Entry passes to the NCCAA Volleyball National Championship tournament are sold in one-day, two-day and three-day options. General admission is $15, $25 or $35, depending on the number of days purchased. Student (5th grade - college) and senior (60+) admission is $10, $15, $25 depending on the number of days purchased. Children fourth grade and under are FREE.

LOCATION: The tournament is hosted by College of the Ozarks and held in their gymnasium, the Keeter Gymnasium. 1 Opportunity Ave. Point Lookout, Mo. 65726 Find the gymnasium on the C of O CAMPUS MAP.

NCCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT: This is Biola's second all-time appearance at the NCCAA National Championship Tournament. The Eagles' last appearance was 2017 in Kissimmee, Fla. when Biola entered as the No. 1 seed and won the national title by beating Campbellsville, 3-1, in the championship match. The Eagles cruised through last year's tournament, dropping just three total sets in six wins. Biola enters this year's tournament as the number one seed and only needs five wins this year, instead of the six it needed last season. The tournament field shrunk to 8 teams, featuring two four-team pools. The Eagles could potentially face three of the same opponents they had last season as Campbellsville is in their pool and Southwestern Assemblies of God University and Grace College are also in the field. Biola beat SAGU in three in last year's semifinals and defeated Grace 3-1 in pool play.

#1-SEED BIOLA (25-6) vs #8-SEED PIEDMONT INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (N.C.) (18-12): Thursday Nov. 29 at 10:00 a.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
Biola Volleyball begins its trek through the 2018 NCCAA Championship tournament with the Piedmont International Bruins. The Bruins are making their first NCCAA tournament appearance as NCCAA Division I members. PIU comes in with an 18-12 overall record and 4-0 mark against NCCAA South member schools, which is PIU's primary athletic conference. The Bruins earned their spot in this year's tournament field thanks to a 3-0 win over Brewton-Parker College in the NCCAA South Regional. PIU is led by junior outside hitter Olivia Bullard, who's racked up 279 kills in 92 sets so far this season, averaging over 3.0 kills-per-set and hitting .214 while doing it. The Bruins hit .163 as a team and are right around 20th in the NCCAA in most statistical categories. Biola will have a significant advantage at the net as BU comes in as the NCCAA's best blocking team (2.28 blocks-per-set) and Piedmont comes into the matchup hitting into the fourth-most blocks of any NCCAA team (1.13 per-set). Biola and PIU have never played each other before.

#1-SEED BIOLA (25-6) vs #5-SEED SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN (Okla.) (21-9): Thursday Nov. 29 at 2:00 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
Biola has one last opportunity to extend its winning streak against bird-related mascots when it faces the No. 5-seeded Eagles of Southwestern Christian on Thursday afternoon. It will be the second time a Biola team has faced an SCU team at a NCCAA National Championship event in the past two years, as Biola Baseball beat SCU in a thriller last Spring. A win for BU would bring the bird streak to rest at 36 consecutive matches (dating back to 2014). This is the first meeting in volleyball between Biola and Southwestern Christian. SCU earned its trip to Missouri by way of an at-large bid. The Eagles finished third in the NCCAA Central Region Championship tournament two weeks ago. Southwestern Christian went 21-9 competing in the NAIA this season as members of the Sooner Athletic Conference. They were eliminated in the SAC Semifinals by NAIA tournament team, Oklahoma City. Two things stand out about this SCU team, that's their tremendous junior outside hitter Cashlyn Munroe and their back rows ability to dig up balls. SCU ranked 18th in all of the NAIA in digs-per-set this season with a tally of 18.5 that outweighs Biola's digs-per-set number by about three whole digs. Munroe, Baleigh Murphy and Liv Block all had more than 350 digs a piece to pace the effort. Munroe played all the way around and carried the Eagles on offense, recording 423 kills (4.1 per-set) and hitting .229. She was 12th overall in the NAIA this season with her kills-per-set number. She was one of four Eagles to earn all-conference in the SAC and was one of two on the first-team. The other was their setter, Darian Parsons.

#1-SEED BIOLA (25-6) vs #4-SEED CAMPBELLSVILLE (Ky.) (24-9): Friday Nov. 30 at 8:00 a.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
The final match of Biola's pool-play run is a rematch of last season's NCCAA National Championship match. The Eagles were able to win in four sets to seal the team's first NCCAA national title and the second of Biola's three total NCCAA titles from 2017-18. That win brought Biola's record against Campbellsville to 2-0 all-time. It was the first meeting between the two sides since the 2007 season. All of Biola's leading attackers from that matchup last year return to face the Tigers once again in 2018. Sabrina Winslow was the top hitter with 14 kills, Karly Dantuma second with 12 and Sierra Bauder third with 11. Dantuma hit .435 and added a block in the final performance of her junior season. CU was led by Annija Abolina and Kaite Johnson. Johnson returns as senior this season. Abolina is no longer on the team. Campbellsville earned their spot in this season's tournament by winning the Mid-East Region Championship a few weeks ago. The Tigers went 24-9 this season competing as NAIA members in the Mid-South Conference. Campbellsville beat Oakland City 3-0 in the Mid-South Regional to punch their ticket. Oakland City was a tournament team in 2017. The Tigers also made a postseason run in the NAIA, coming up second in the Mid-South Conference after dropping the championship match to No. 6 Lindsey Wilson, 3-1. Campbellsville went 11-2 overall in conference play and ended their year receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll. Campbellsville's offense is paced by senior Maria Coelho. Coelho was All-MSC first team this season and has over 1,300 career kills for the Lady Tigers. This season she's led the team with 370 kills, while hitting .153. CU also features all-conference players at the key spots of setter and libero. Libero Jaimie Thompson is 15th in all of the NAIA in digs-per-set (5.85) and also top-15 in total digs (708). Setter Paige Merrick is top-25 in the NAIA in service aces (55) and top-30 in assists (1,160).

SIERRA WOW-DER: Sierra Bauder became Biola's first NCAA Division II All-American earlier this week. The senior middle blocker was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches' Association with All-American third team recognition. She was also named AVCA All-West Region, All-PacWest first team and PacWest Conference Player of the Year. It was a historic season by all measures for the Western Illinois transfer, as she set a new conference record for hitting percentage (.440) and had a career-high in kills (294) to lead Biola's offense.  

STILL IN THE MIX: Following the close of the regular season, Biola Volleyball remains just outside of the top-25 in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches' Poll. The Eagles are one of 20 teams "receiving votes" for the national poll. Biola's 16 points in the poll put it ranked 34th in all of NCAA Division II. The Eagles would be sixth in the west region, just behind Azusa Pacific, who's currently sitting 26th overall in the national poll. WEEK 12 POLL

ROAD TO 1,000 (AND THEN SOME): Senior opposite hitter Karly Dantuma has now become the 15th Biola player to pass the 1,000 kill plateau and sits at 1,190 for her career. Dantuma also has a chance to eclipse 300 career blocks (297). If she does reach 300, she'd be just the fourth player in Biola history to have 1,000+ kills and 300+ blocks (Becky Miller, Amy Weststeyn, Michelle Warkentin). With up to five matches this week, it's hard to see Dantuma not reaching 300 blocks.

SHOOTING FOR 30: Head Coach Aaron Seltzer is in his 17th season at the helm of the BU Volleyball squad. He's the winningest coach in program history with an all-time mark of 457-139 (.767). He's never experienced a losing season during his tenure at Biola (or even come close, with his "worst" mark being 19-11). His teams have won at least 26 matches every year since 2010. The Eagles are shooting to get to 30 with a strong showing at the NCCAA National Tournament. If achieved it'd be seventh time a Seltzer-coached squad got to 30 and the first time since the 30-4 team in 2015. It would also mean another blue banner for Biola Volleyball, as it will take five wins to clinch the national title.

NEXT WEEK: Nothing. See you in September!