COLUMBIA, Mo. - National American University's hopes of a repeat ended Friday when the Mavericks dropped a quarterfinal match to Biola, Calif., during the NAIA Volleyball National Championship at the Arena of Southwell Complex.

Fifth-seeded NAU won Game 1 30-27, however, the fourth-seeded Lady Eagles rebounded to take the next three games by the scores of 30-24, 30-22 and 30-27.

"Tough day for sure," said NAU head coach Todd Lowery, who was recently named the NAIA Region III Coach of the Year. "We just got beat by a better team today. Biola played some amazing defense … It wasn't that we weren't getting good swings and sets, they just dug the ball.

"Our girls played well and they've got nothing to hang their heads about."

Biola used a very balanced offensive attack, as five players had at least nine kills. Maggie McGill led the way with 13 kills. Kristen Peterson, Kelsey Mitchell and Meghan Warkentin added 12 apiece, and Jessica Buffam had nine.

Daniela Oliveira led National American with 22 kills. Thamy Viana added 20 and Tais Batistella notched 16.

NAU's lone senior, Leslie DaSilva, was able to play Friday and had eight kills. She had swelling in her surgically-repaired knee following the NAIA Region III tournament and rested up during pool play at the national tournament.

NAU actually out-hit Biola 71 kills to 64, however, the Mavs struggled with errors. They had 26 hitting errors (compared to 17 by Biola), 12 service errors (Biola had six), seven serve-receive errors (Biola had five) and six blocking errors (Biola had one).

Biola held an 11-9 blocking edge. Warkentin led the way with three solo and two assisted blocks, Kelsey Christoferson added two solo and two assisted, and Peterson and Jessica Buffum each had three assisted blocks.

Tais Centeno paced NAU with one solo and four assisted blocks, while Oliveira added one solo and three assisted, and Viana tallied one solo and two assisted.

Abbie Wright and Christina Perkins split the setting duties for the Lady Eagles, as Wright had 25 assists and Perkins 21. Katie Stevens had 32 of the team's 91 digs. Dani Aigaki added 17.

NAU setter Amanda Silva had 52 assists. Silva and DaSilva had 19 digs apiece for the Mavericks.

Biola came up with seven service aces for the match, compared to five by NAU. McGill, Caroline Rutenbar and Christina Perkins had two aces. DaSilva led NAU with two.

"We came a long ways this year, with all the injuries and everything," Lowery added. "We played well (and) and I can't say that I'm unhappy. We just ran into a team that had a better day than us."

Biola also beat National American 30-14, 30-16, 30-19 on Sept. 28 in California.

Biola (32-7) moves on to today's semifinals with a match against top-ranked Fresno Pacific, Calif., at 8:30 a.m. MST. In the other semifinal, California Baptist plays Concordia, Calif., at 11:30 a.m.

The championship match is set for 6:30 p.m. this evening.

NAU, which finished the season ranked 11th in the NAIA poll, wrapped up the season with a 28-11 record.