The Eagles volleyball team ran into an unfamiliar foe in their opening match at the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, and it had little to do with team on the other side of the net. The Eagles beat themselves in their Tuesday night matchup with the No. 17 Indiana Tech Warrior, committing 28 hitting errors en route to 25-23, 25-18, 20-25 and 25-12 beatings courtesy of the Warriors.
The Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa has been a house of horrors for the Eagles in recent years –- including last year when the No. 2 Eagles made the semi-finals only to lose to No. 3 Concordia, a team they had beaten little more than a month before.
While the pool play loss does not end the Eagles chances at making a run for the championship, their road will be more difficult unless they can score an upset win against No. 3 Northwestern tonight at 6 p.m. The Eagles need to finish in one of the top two spots in their pool to advance to the single-elimination playoff.
The Eagles played well enough to win in the first set, but allowed the Warriors long streaks of points from which Biola could not recover, something that became a theme throughout the match. The Eagles saved two match points at 22-24 and 23-24, but a kill by tech outside hitter Ashley Hamilton ended the chances for Biola. Hamilton lit up the Eagles for 15 kills, 14 digs and two aces.
After blowing an early lead in the second set to fall behind 2-0, the Eagles showed their dominance in the third set, slowing down the Warrior offense but giving away costly points on errors. Biola pulled out the 25-20 victory by winning seven of the final ten points. The stat line betrayed the short lived victory -– 13 of the 20 points won by the Warriors came because of unforced errors by the Eagles.
Indiana Tech capitalized on the Eagles errors in the fourth and final set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead, of which five points were given away by the Eagles with unforced errors. Biola fought back to within two points at 8-10 before collapsing, as Indiana Tech won 15 of the next 19 points to rout the Eagles 25-12.
The Eagles redeemed themselves Wednesday night against Shawnee State (Ohio) with a straight set victory 25-17, 25-19 and 25-18. Senior middle blocker Kelsey Christopherson played flawlessly with 10 kills in 17 swings with no hitting errors to go with her five blocks. The Eagles defense was anchored by senior libero Katie Stevens with 18 digs, while freshman Justine Schoneveld led Biola with 32 assists.
Biola may find themselves in a tie atop their pool if they can capitalize against Northwestern and if Indiana Tech beats Shawnee, which could result in three teams with a 2-1 record. The tiebreaker would come down to total sets won and lost.
