Friday, November 16, 2007 - Special Events Center
NAIA Region II Semifinals - Lancers, Sunbirds advance

#2 California Baptist sweeps #3 Concordia 30-23, 30-20, 30-21
Box score 

#1 Fresno Pacific sweeps #4 Biola 30-16, 30-22, 30-19
Box score 

Fresno - The top-ranked and top-seeded Sunbirds needed only 73 minutes to sweep the No. 4 Biola University Eagles in a NAIA Region II semifinal match tonight in the Special Events Center.

The win propels the Sunbirds into tomorrow's championship match where they will five No. 2 California Baptist. The Lances disposed of No. 3 Concordia 30-23, 30-20, 30-21 the in evenings other semifinal.

FPU's win also erased some of the sting of their only loss of the season, a 5-game affair at the hands of the Eagles oh Halloween evening.

The Sunbirds set the tone early with pin-point hitting. FPU had only one error and hit .472 in racing to a 30-16 win. Game 2 was close at 23-22, but the Sunbirds reeled off seven consecutive point to win it. FPU led by six points (15-9) midway through Game 3 and the Eagles never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

Thais Julio was a red-hot .708 for the Sunbirds and pounded a match-high 18 kills. Brittany Pierce notched a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs. Lisa Shilling hit .600 with six kills on 10 attempts and was in on four blocks. Libero Tiffany Marinos led all back row players with 20 digs.

"We played pretty well," said FPU head coach Dennis Janzen. "We had a good effort form everybody and we needed that to beat a good team."

Meghan Warkentin was the bright spot for the Eagles with 11 kills.

The Lancers used 21 kills from Shi Fei and 15 more from Verania Willis to polish off Concordia. Lindsey Campbell was best for CUI with nine kills.

The Sunbirds (30-1) and Lancers (27-3) will face off for the third time this season. FPU won both previous matches, 3-2 early in the season in Riverside then swept the Lancers in Fresno on September 13.

All four teams in the Regional are guaranteed berths in the 20-team NAIA National Championship field. The Championship is set for November 28 through 1 in Columbia, Missouri.

NAIA Region II Quarterfinals
#1 Fresno Pacific (29-1) d. #8 Holy Names (15-15) 30-11, 30-9, 30-11
#2 California Baptist (26-3) d. #7 Vanguard (10-16) 30-17, 30-24, 30-15
#3 Concordia (26-4) d. #6 Point Loma Nazarene (17-13) 31-29, 30-20, 31-29
#4 Biola (28-6) d. #5 Azusa Pacific (21-10) 30-25, 30-26, 32-30

NAIA Region II Semifinals
#1 Fresno Pacific (30-1) vs. #4 Biola (28-7) 30-16, 30-22, 30-19
#2 California Baptist (27-3) d. #3 Concordia (26-5) 30-23, 30-20, 30-21

NAIA Region II Championship
#1 Fresno Pacific (30-1) vs. #2 California Baptist (27-3) 7:00