COLUMBIA, Mo. -- With every player and coach from each of the 18 other participating NAIA Tournament teams watching, the NAIA's No. 11-ranked Azusa Pacific put on quite a show, nearly upsetting tournament host and No. 10 seed Columbia (Mo.) in a 5-game thriller in the final pool play match of the day at the 2006 NAIA Volleyball National Championship. Columbia scored 6 of the final 8 points in the deciding fifth game to put the Cougars away, 26-30, 30-28, 30-18, 26-30, 15-11.
The tournament's official opening ceremonies were scheduled to take place immediately following the match, bringing all 20 NAIA Tournament teams together to create an electric, standing-room atmosphere in Columbia's Southwell Complex Arena. Ironically, the Cougars' defeat before the ceremony effectively ended Azusa Pacific's hopes of advancing out of pool play. The only scenario that would put the Cougars into a tiebreaker pool would require Columbia and unseeded King (Tenn.) to each knock off the NAIA's top-seeded National American (S.D.) Thursday.
After stealing the first game by a 30-26 margin after trailing 24-23 late in the opening game, Azusa Pacific took a 28-27 lead in Game 2, but Columbia scored 2 points to earn a game point of its own at 29-28. The teams embarked on one of the longest, most entertaining rallies of the season, with Azusa Pacific's freshman Jill Baker and sophomores Brittany Brown and Megan Burch each digging several of Columbia's numerous attacks before the hosts finally found an opening in the Azusa Pacific defense to even the match at 1 game apiece with the 30-28 win.
"That was probably one of the longest rallies I have seen and been a part of," said Cougar head coach Chris Keife. "We had a lot of attempts to put the rally away, but we just couldn't get the ball to our middle. We did a great job of passing to the middle of the floor, getting an attempt out of it and getting a good swing, but Columbia did a good job of defending us. I honestly thought the rally was going to be finished 4 or 5 times before it actually did finish. It definitely was a change in momentum for the match. That ended Game 2, and I think if we win that rally, it's possibly a different ballgame, but you have to give credit to Columbia. They won the rally and that was game point."
Columbia used the momentum of the rally to jump out to a 19-8 lead in the third game before Azusa Pacific settled down and reeled off 4 straight points to cut the deficit to 19-12. Columbia answered with a 4-point run of its own before pulling away for the 30-18 win and the 2 games to 1 advantage in the match.
"I think in Game 3 our girls were fatigued," said Keife. "They put a lot of heart and a lot of energy into Game 2, and it didn't go their way, so I think that kind of put them on a little low for a while. (Assistant coach) Rob (Machan) and I talked and we knew that as Game 3 progressed, we were probably going to lose that game, so we were gearing up for Game 4. We started resting a few players in Game 3, just to get more focused and established for Game 4."
In the fourth game, Azusa Pacific settled down and came out with an efficient offense, scoring its first 7 points of the game on kills from 5 different hitters, and 3 straight aces from junior Alison Pattison gave the Cougars a 13-8 lead. Azusa Pacific led by at least 4 points all the way to a 27-21 advantage before Columbia reeled off 5 quick points to close to within 27-26. After an Azusa Pacific timeout, sophomore setter Allison Kincheloe and senior Chelsea Morgan combined for a block, Morgan followed it with a solo block and a Columbia net violation sealed the game for Azusa Pacific with a 30-26 win that knotted the match at 2 games apiece.
"(In the timeout), I told the girls they were being tentative," said Keife. "They were afraid of the block, and they hit the ball out of bounds. I think we had 4 or 5 hitting errors back to back to back, and they didn't even block us. We were just hitting it out of bounds. I told the girls just put the ball away. If you get blocked, you get blocked, but we can't just hit it completely out of bounds."
A Burch kill from the back row that gave Azusa Pacific an 8-6 advantage in the decisive fifth game was the first Cougar point scored out of the offense, as Columbia miscues led to the first 7 Azusa Pacific points. Burch recorded another kill out of the back row tied the game at 9-9 to end a brief 3-point Columbia run. Morgan and Baker each recorded kills to bring Azusa Pacific to within a point at 11-10 and 12-11, but Columbia ended the match with yet another 3-point run to seal the dramatic victory.
Baker finished with a team-high 19 kills, and she was joined in double figures by Burch with 13 kills and Morgan, who collected 12 kills. Brown recorded a team-high 23 digs, and Baker added 10 digs. Kincheloe, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in pre-tournament workouts, delivered a gutsy 52-assist, 10-dig, 2-block effort, and even went up on the injured foot for a pair of consecutive attacks at the net in the fourth game.
"It takes a lot of heart to go out there and play injured and to perform at the level that she did for 5 games," said Keife. "That's tough to do, but overall I thought she played wonderfully. She did her part and she ran an efficient offense."
Columbia was led by Rael Rotich's match-high 22 kills, while Juliana Quadrado had 11 kills and a hand in 13 of Columbia's 23 blocks.
With the loss, Azusa Pacific drops to 21-13 on the season, while Columbia improves to 42-5. The Cougars wrap up pool play when they take on unseeded King (Tenn.) at 3:45 p.m. (Central). No live data, audio or video streams will be available for the match.
