POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. --- No. 8-seed Piedmont International could do nothing to stop Biola's attack from the right side on Thursday morning in the opening match of the 2018 National Christian College Athletics Association National Championship.

The Eagles' right side hitters, Karly Dantuma and Stephanie Jewett, combined for 17 kills in Biola's 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-16) win over the Bruins. Biola also had success in that area with the slide as middle Bekah Roth and Sierra Bauder combined for another 12 kills.

"It was not pretty, but we got it done." said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer.

The Eagles trailed early on in the first game, not taking their first lead until 8-7, but then it was relatively smooth sailing from then on out with a dominant second set and strong finish to the third game to wrap things up.

Things were a bit dicey at the start of the third as the Bruins managed to stage a short run to take a 12-11 lead. Then Biola's hitters took over and won 14 of the final 18 points to secure the match.

Dantuma led the onslaught with nine kills and Sabrina Winslow and Jewett were right behind with eight apiece as BU out-hit PIU, 43-22 and posted a very good team attack percentage of .348. Dantuma was nine of 12 with no errors to lead the team by hitting .750. Jewett was right up there too with eight kills on 12 swings and just one error (.583).

"Stephanie was a rock star today. They did not have an answer for her offensively. She continued to grind and did a great job," said Seltzer.

The Eagles' back row was on fire all throughout the match, bringing in 52 digs, which is almost 20 more than the opponents. Sami Hover led the effort with 14, including at least three that were acrobatic enough to end up on the highlight reel.

The efforts of she, Kaitlin O'Brien, Winslow and other back row players held PIU to just a .032 hitting percentage in the match and cause the Bruins to hit negative in sets two and three.

Biola also had a decent serving match, ending up with eight service aces, but also committing seven service errors. Vanessa Garcia had four aces to lead the team. One of those aces was the clinching point in the opening set.

The win gets Biola off to a 1-0 start to its three-match pool play round. Next up is Southwestern Christian this afternoon at 2 p.m. Follow the action live with video ($) at the NCCAA Network or with free live stats provided by hosts College of the Ozarks.