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SIOUX CITY, Iowa - For the first time since 2006, a new champion will be crowned at the NAIA Volleyball National Championships as #11 Fresno Pacific lost a five-set thriller to conference rival #9 Biola (25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 13-25, 15-11).
In a battle between two GSAC teams that all year have been immensely talented yet incredibly unpredictable, Friday was no different. The Sunbirds and Eagles definitely put on a show for the crowd on hand, trading sets and putting together long rallies until Biola ultimately escaped with a 15-11 win the fifth. The Eagles advance to the NAIA quarterfinals to take on #3 Lee (Tenn.) tonight.
Erica Adachi put together her best match of the tournament to lead the Sunbirds, recording a triple-double of 14 kills, 12 assists and 13 digs.
Martina Gregusova led FPU with 15 kills and 14 digs in the final match of her highly-decorated Sunbird career.
Kathleen Anderson led an impressive Sunbird blocking day with seven total blocks, while
Amy Siemens and
Emily Carroll each added six.
Christine Douglas would counter for the Eagles, leading an impressive offensive attack with a match-high 20 kills. The Eagles would pull out 25-20 wins in sets one and three, but the Sunbirds held on for a 25-23 win in set two before blowing out the Eagles 25-13 in set four to force a fifth set.
The Eagles regained momentum at the start of the fifth, jumping ahead to a 5-1 lead, aided by a missed call that made the score 4-1 rather than 3-2. A nice dig by
Kailey Allen led to an Alcorn kill and the Sunbirds would climb back into it down 5-4. Douglas came right back at the Sunbirds however, tallying three straight kills to make the score 8-4 as the teams switched sides.
A couple of crucial Sunbird errors down the stretch helped Biola maintain that lead and go up 12-6 and then 14-8. Alcorn gave the Sunbirds some life with two powerful kills to make it 14-10 and a Siemens-Adachi block brought the team within three. The Eagles would close it out though as their next attack was dug by the Sunbirds but went wide as a diving Adachi was unable to save it.
The game was typical of many games this season that featured the Sunbirds battling to the very end.
"I'm just really proud of the team because they fought on every single point, even when we were down," said head coach
Kelly Winter. "We had to fight in so many matches this year, and we were right there, we were so close."
The Sunbirds hit .229 in the match to Biola's .246, but out-blocked the Eagles 14-8. FPU was at its best in the fourth set, hitting .481 as a strong all-around effort helped the team jump out to an 18-7 lead and take the set with ease.
"That just shows the determination of this team," said Winter. "Even when we were down, we knew we had the ability to control the match." The Sunbirds hit just .029 in their other set-win, taking set two despite 10 errors.
Though the Sunbirds finished the season with a 17-13 record and a third-place GSAC finish, falling short of the program's lofty goals, there is a sense that Winter, now with a season under her belt, has the program ready to make a big jump next year when the team plays its first NCAA Division II season in the PacWest Conference.
"We're fired up about next season," said Winter, who will get back two starters that redshirted this year along with a loaded recruiting class. Of the eight Sunbirds that played today, seven will return with Gregusova being the major loss. "We're so close to where we need to be. As we saw today, just a couple points can make all the difference."
"I really like what I see out of the girls that are returning," she continued. "It reminds me of our 2006 national runner-up team that came out the next year and won the national title. I think we'll be that much more determined this spring, heading into next fall."
It was the final NAIA match for the Sunbirds, who compiled an all-time record of 912-226. The program went 97-25 in 21 appearances at the national tournament, the most tournament wins of any team in the history of the NAIA.
