SIOUX CITY, IA --- For the second day in a row, the NAIA's No. 4-ranked Concordia looked to its opposites, and for the second day in a row, the Eagles came through with a Pool Play win, with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 win over Bellevue (NE) Wednesday evening.

The Eagles (28-7, 2-0 against Pool D opponents) still need another win to secure advancement to the Single-Elimination bracket, while Bellevue falls to 29-9 and 0-2 in Pool Play at the NAIA National Championships.

Freshman opposite Brooke Marino led the attack with 18 kills and hit .361 (18-5-36), while junior opposite Amber Ridens finished with 17 kills on 20 swings to hit .800 (17-1-20)--just three tenths of a percentage point away from tying the school single-match record.

Marino had six kills in the opening set, which proved to be the closest battle of the evening. The set was tied 11 times before Concordia took a 17-16 lead on a kill from Ridens that sparked a 4-0 run to put CUI ahead by a 20-16 tally.

Bellevue made it close with three kills in a row to make it a 22-21 CUI lead, but the Eagles recovered in time to close out the win at 25-22.

Concordia used a 4-0 rally to take control of the second set at 4-1 thanks to kills from Marino and Ridens along with senior middle blocker Cassie Ells and sophomore outside hitter Serrina Russo. The Eagles did not trail from that point, but also didn't lead by more than four points until Ridens popped a kill to make it 24-19 ahead of a Bellevue attack error to give CUI a 2-0 lead.

The third set started out in a similar fashion, with Concordia using a 5-0 run to sieze control at 5-1, but the score remained close throughout, with the Eagles taking their first five-point lead at 23-18 on another Ridens kill.

Junior setter Renee Horton dealt out 23 assists, while senior setter Vanessa Perry finished with 22 dimes in the win.

The Eagles next take on Texas at Brownsville, which carries a 32-1 record and 29 consecutive wins into tonight's matchup against Morningside (IA), which CUI downed, 3-1, yesterday to kick off Pool Play. CUI and Texas at Brownsville meet Thursday (Dec. 3) at 3:45 PST.

Live Stats

The NAIA National Championships are carried via livestats at California Baptist's athletics website (www.cbulancers.com).

Tournament Central

To get the most up-to-the-minute coverage of the tournament in its entirety, go to http://naia.cstv.com/ and click "2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Final Site Preview".