SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Fresno Pacific (35-1) had a busy day on Saturday. First, they defeated Cal Baptist (28-9) 3-0 to advance to the finals, and then they came back on Concordia (31-6) to win the national title in five sets. The Sunbirds became the first team to comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the championship match; it was even the first fifth set ever in the championship match. The Sunbirds won 24-26, 27-29, 25-21, 25-15 and 15-11.
Coach Dennis Janzen happily commented after the match, “I am so proud and pleased for each of the players and assistant coaches on this team. What they have done is an incredible accomplishment. It was truly a team effort.”
Five Sunbirds had double-digit kills; six girls had double-digit digs; and six girls assisted at the net on 8 team blocks.
Fresno Pacific was led by
Thais Julio, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, with a match-high 29 kills.
Keke Wang added 16 while
Fabiana Leomil and
Lisa Shilling each had 12 kills.
Tiffany Marinos posted a match-high 29 digs while
Shu Liu had 69 assists.
After 12 ties and four lead changes in game-one Concordia took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 26-24 win. The Eagles carried the momentum into the second game and took an early 10-6 lead. Concordia extended its lead to seven points (15-8) before Fresno Pacific rallied to tie the score at 22-22 and take a 24-23 lead. The Eagles erased two FPU game points and scored three straight points to win game-two, 29-27. The Sunbirds bounced back and took an early 9-3 lead in game-three and captured a 25-21 win. Fresno Pacific again came out strong in game-four and cruised to a 25-15 win to tie the match at 2-2.
Coach Janzen explained his thoughts during the match, “When we were down two sets to none, it was easy to see that we were not going to go away easily. This team has had their backs to the wall before and they truly believe in themselves and each other. That was evident as the match progressed into the third and fourth sets as the momentum begin to shift. By the time we got into set five, I was liking our chances.”
The Sunbirds were in control from start to finish in game-five and won 15-11.
Despite dropping the first two sets, the Sunbirds out-hit the Eagles in every set finishing the match with 82 kills on 214 attempts and 24 errors for a 0.271 hitting percentage; Concordia hit 0.200 on the match.
Coach Janzen concluded, “From the very first day of training camp back in August, this team stayed true to their commitment to each other and to their season goals. Our focus was on the journey, knowing that if we honored our commitments, a championship was within reach. What a special group of young ladies.”
For the first time in NAIA history a volleyball national championship match has gone into the fifth and deciding game. From 1986-89 the matches were best of three and only one match went into the deciding third game.
The Sunbirds have now captured its second straight and fourth overall NAIA Volleyball Championship. The Sunbirds have now won the most volleyball titles (4) among the current NAIA member.
