Dec. 6, 2008

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – In the first semifinal match of the 2008 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Tournament, top-seed Fresno Pacific (Calif.) captured a 3-0 (25-18, 28-26 and 25-23) win over No. 7 California Baptist at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.  The Sunbirds advanced to the championship match for the third straight season and will face the winner of the second semifinal match between No. 2 Biola (Calif.) and No. 3 Concordia (Calif.).

FPU was in control the entire first game to win 25-18.  Thais Julio led the Sunbirds with four kills and three block assists in the game.  Both teams traded point in the second game until California Baptist scored three straight points to take a 22-19 lead.  Fresno Pacific rallied to tie the game at 24-24 and took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 28-26 win in game-two.  CBU regrouped and came out on fire in the third game to take an early 6-2 lead.  The Lancers led 15-10 before FPU started to chip away and tied the score at 19.  The Sunbirds closed out the match with 25-23 win in game-three.

Julio and Fabiana Leomil each had a team-high 13 kills for Fresno Pacific.  Tiffany Marinos and Brittany Pierce had 13 digs each while Leomil posted 10 digs.  Shu Liu assists on 43 kills for the Sunbirds.  FPU improves its overall record to 34-1.

Noelle Dyk led the match with 17 kills for the Lancers.  Fei Shi added 11 kills and nine digs while Katrina Clark had a match-high 23 digs.  California Baptist will end its season with a 28-9 overall record.

The Championship match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.

JumpTV Inc. is the exclusive provider of live video and audio-streaming at the NAIA National Championship. JumpTV will stream the 2008 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Match. This event can be viewed by going to watchnaia.com or by clicking here.