COSTA MESA, Calif. --- A season that moved Biola Volleyball farther forward than any other under Head Coach
Brian Failinger came to an end Friday night at the Freed Center.
Third-seeded Biola battled No. 2 seed Concordia in the semifinals of the program's first PacWest Volleyball Championships appearance, but CUI pulled away for a 3-1 victory (25-18, 17-25, 25-8, 25-23). The loss closes Biola's season at 19-7 overall following a 14-4 PacWest regular season and third-place conference finish.
Concordia took the opening set 25-18, limiting Biola to a .051 hitting percentage in the early stages of this one. The Eagles responded in the second.
Biola broke open a 10-10 set with a strong service run from
Caprice Cooper, whose back-to-back aces helped turn a one-point advantage into a 16-10 lead. The Eagles continued to apply pressure from the line and never surrendered control, evening the match with a convincing 25-17 victory.
CUI answered emphatically in the third, hitting an otherworldly .542 with 14 kills and just one error while holding Biola to five kills and a negative hitting percentage in a 25-8 decision. It was the Eagles' fewest point total in a set all season. Nevertheless, Biola refused to let its season end quietly.
The fourth set featured 12 ties and six lead changes, with neither side able to create meaningful separation for most of the frame. The Eagles finally appeared to have found an opening late, using blocks involving
Hannah Guzzetti,
Savannah Simpson and
Juliana Van Ommering to build a 21-18 advantage. Unfortunately for Failinger's bunch, Concordia erased it.
CUI scored three straight and then traded points a bit to take a 24-22 lead in the game. AÂ CUI service error gave Biola one final chance at 24-23, but freshman Livia Eyre delivered the match-ending kill.
It was a difficult ending to a season defined much more by progress than disappointment.
Haylee LaFontaine led Biola Friday with 10 kills while adding 11 digs for a double-double. Simpson finished with eight kills and five block assists, while Van Ommering recorded seven kills and five blocks. Cooper had 12 digs and four service aces, and the Eagles totaled 9.5 blocks as a team.
Those performances were part of a season that pushed Biola firmly back among the PacWest's top programs. Biola also finished a perfect 9-0 at Chase Gymnasium during the regular season and carried an opportunity to win a share of the PacWest championship all the way into its final conference match.
The progress is especially clear when viewed across Failinger's three seasons as head coach.
Biola finished 9-19 and 10th in the PacWest in 2024. The Eagles jumped to 17-10 and fifth place in 2025. This season brought 19 wins.
In three years, the Eagles improved their win total by 10 and transformed from a team uncharacteristically near the bottom of the conference standings into one that entered the final week of the regular season competing for a championship.
The 19 victories are Biola's most in a season since the Eagles went 20-8 in 2021.
There were plenty of individual milestones along the way.
LaFontaine was named the PacWest Newcomer of the Year and earned Second Team All-PacWest honors after transferring to Biola from Cal Poly. Van Ommering and Simpson were both named First Team All-PacWest.
Van Ommering surpassed 500 career kills during the season, while Tully reached the same career milestone in October.
Hannah Hanson surpassed 1,500 career assists in August, adding another achievement to a career that included Second Team All-PacWest recognition in 2025. Senior
Lexi Lambert pushed past 2,000 career kills when you add in the dimes she collected at Dallas Baptist.
Freshman
Caprice Cooper also emerged as a major piece of Biola's future, taking over an important role in the back row and earning PacWest Defender of the Week honors late in the season.
Friday also marked the final collegiate match for a group that helped push the program to this point.
Biola honored
Ashlyn Beebe,
Hannah Hanson,
Madison Moore,
Payton Tully and
Lexi Lambert before the final home match of the season. Their contributions span far beyond one stat line as critical leaders for the team.
Friday's result hurts because the Eagles had created expectations that reached well beyond simply qualifying for a tournament and after three years of steady progress, the standard has changed. It will be exciting to see what 2027 holds for this Biola bunch.
