EUGENE, Ore. –The 18-seeded Bushnell Beacons opened up their first ever trip to the NAIA National Championship Final Site on Wednesday, falling to the No. 7-seed Bellevue University Bruins in three sets, 25-16, 25-14, 25-20.
The Beacons (21-13) had an uncharacteristic 24 unforced errors in the match, including five blocking errors, while the defending national runners-up from Bellevue hit a sturdy .396 on the attack, out-blocked Bushnell 7-3 and earned six service aces.
"Bellevue play4ed a very clean game," said Head Coach Jason Corwin, "and we gave them too many points. That is hard to overcome against a good team. Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to compete."
Junior Amyah Semau was unphased by the grand stage, hitting .304 and equaling a match-high with 11 kills. Likewise, senior Leah Agost hit .353 with seven kills while Hailey Heider posted ten kills. Kailey Shirley led all players with 11 digs while Emma Fa'alogo collected a team-high 16 assists. Avery McCallister came in off the bench and added five assists, along with two service aces in a competitive third set."
Bellevue (26-3) was led by an 11-kill night from Eve Fountain while Savanna Berger collected nine kills, hitting .643 with three blocks.
UP NEXT: The Beacons return to action on Thursday at 5:30 pm Pacific time, taking on the No. 10-seed Oklahoma Wesleyan University. OKWU defeated Bushnell earlier this season in Eugene. Bellevue will have the day off, closing out their pool play competition against OKWU on Friday evening.
In order for the Beacons to advance out of the pool, they will need to defeat the Eagles on Thursday while the Eagles in turn will need to knock off Bellevue on Friday, forcing a three-way tiebreak to be played out Friday night.
The 2025 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship is broadcast FREE on the NAIA Channel of the Urban Edge Network and the newly redesigned NAIA Network for all matches at the final site in Sioux City, Iowa. For more information and to pre-register, click
HERE.
2025 NAIA Volleyball National Championship
Pool Play Assignments
Full schedule and additional links are located
HERE on naia.org