The Cougars prevailed by scores of 30-14, 30-26, 27-30 and 30-28. With the victory, Azusa Pacific advances to the regional semifinals in Fresno, Calif., where on Friday the Cougars take on host Fresno Pacific in a 7 p.m. match. The other semi pits Concordia against Cal Baptist at 4 p.m. also in Fresno.

In tonight's win over Biola, Azusa Pacific, a team more known for its first-game flops throughout the year, surprisingly took control of the match from the opening serve and laid waste on its foe with an impressive 16-point victory. The Cougars broke open a tight game with a 14-2 run to assume a comfortable 27-13 lead. Azusa Pacific took advantage of 7 Eagle attack errors while sharing the wealth between 4 different hitters who tallied at least 2 kills during the game.

"We served really tough and knocked them out of their rhythm in game one," said Azusa Pacific coach Chris Keife. "I thought we played very well. We made a lot things happen and were the aggressors."

The second game bettered resembled a contest between 2 nationally-ranked squads with neither team holding more than a 2-point advantage until Biola reeled off 4 straight points to take a 24-21 lead, thanks in part to a pair of Meghan Scheenstra service aces. The Cougars countered with 6 straight and took the lead for good on back-to-back Morgan kills. Morgan closed out the game with another convincing kill to give the Cougars a 2-0 match advantage, which caused anyone with the slightest understanding of this series history to ponder the irony of the situation.

During the regular season, Azusa Pacific twice rallied from 2-0 deficits to beat Biola in 5 games, first in La Mirada and then again in Azusa. Now the table was turned with Azusa Pacific holding the 2-0 advantage in the most significant of the 3 meetings this season. And when Eagle hitter Kelsey Mitchell capped an 8-5 Eagle run to close game three and give Biola the win to cut the Azusa Pacific advantage in half, everyone was thinking about a reversal of fortune.

Well almost everyone.

"It didn't cross my mind," said Keife, "and we didn't say a word about it. All I talked about after game three was getting the girls to focus in on controlling the ball and being aggressive with our attacks."

"I really wasn't worried about it," said Morgan. "I think because of how intense and hard we practiced in preparation for this match, we were confident that we could finish it off. We knew we had to get the energy back up for game four."

Like the previous 2 games, game four was tight throughout with 7 tied scores, including 27-all following a Morgan mis-hit. However, Brianne Huff put down a ball to give Azusa Pacific a lead it would not relinquish. Morgan followed with her 20h and 21st kills to end Biola's hope of a miracle comeback and clinch the match for Azusa Pacific.

Baker finished with match-high 25 kills, and none was bigger than a monster smash that knotted game four at 19-19. Moments later Megan Burch's desperate flick to merely keep the ball off the floor somewhat made it over the net and fell untouched on the Biola side for an amazing point and 22-22 tied score.

"Jill's hit and Megan's flick were 2 plays that turned the fourth game for us," added Keife. "In fact, Jill's hit was one of the most aggressive I've seen in a long time. It was big time."

Azusa Pacific hit .257 for the match and collected 10 aces and 8 blocks in the process.

"We focused on 2 skills heading into this match – serving and blocking," said Keife. "The skill of blocking can also be taking an area of the floor away, and even though you may not touch the ball, you can still have a perfect block. We did a very nice job tonight of putting our hands over the net and creating a defense around our block."

Burch finished with 13 kills and a match-high 5 aces, while Huff chipped in with 10 kills.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 21-9. Biola falls to 20-12.