SIOUX CITY, Iowa – In one of the most exciting nights of volleyball the Embry-Riddle program has ever experienced, the fifth-ranked Eagles saw their season come to a close on Thursday night, the final day of pool play at the NAIA National Championship Final Site presented by CNOS Foundation. The Blue and Gold defeated Hastings (Neb.) in three sets (25-18, 25-16, 25-23) before falling to the Broncos in a one-set tiebreaker, 26-24.
 
The Eagles knew it would be a difficult task to earn a spot in the single-elimination bracket as they came into the day with an 0-2 record, sitting in fourth place in Pool E. MidAmerica Nazarene provided some help for Embry-Riddle with its 3-2 victory over Bellevue, which opened up the possibility of a three-way tie for second place.
 
ERAU (29-6) played with a newfound energy that had not been seen in the previous two pool play matches. The Eagles outhit the Broncos (29-6), .381 to .222 and never trailed by more than three points at any point in the match.
 
In the first set, Hastings took a slim 7-5 lead early on, but a 5-2 run keyed by two kills and a service ace from Taylor Martin pushed the Eagles in front, 10-9. A service ace from Hannah Gray built the lead to 16-13 and a kill from Emily Jacobson extended the margin to 20-15. Embry-Riddle closed the set on a 5-2 run, winning the frame, 25-18.
 
The Broncos held a slim lead throughout the first half of the second set, eventually moving ahead, 13-11. At that point, the Eagles caught fire, scoring 14 of the next 17 points to overwhelm Hastings, 25-16, taking a 2-0 lead.
 
The third set was dominated by the Eagles early, as they ran out to an 8-3 lead. The Broncos came back to within three (10-7), only to see ERAU respond with a 6-2 spurt to extend the lead to 16-9. The Blue and Gold held a 24-19 lead before Hastings rattled off four straight points, three of which came from ERAU errors, cutting the deficit to a single point (24-23). Jacobson put down a kill on the next point, closing out the set (25-23) and match (3-0) for the Eagles.
 
Martin led all players with 16 kills and hit .448 in addition to picking up a match-high 11 digs. Gloria Kemp added 12 kills and hit .500, while Jordan Holcomb registered a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Jacobson (.500 hitting percentage) and Morgan Shattuck (.667) each chipped in with eight kills and Shattuck added a match-high five blocks (one solo). Adriana Vazquez tallied a match-leading 44 assists and also collected six digs.
 
Kendra Schwein led the Broncos with 15 kills and added eight digs. Carissa Kinne recorded a team-leading 10 digs while Haley Beardsley led the team with 28 assists.
 
With the win, Embry-Riddle forced a three-way tie for second place in Pool E, resulting in a three-way tiebreaker. By virtue of the highest percentage of sets won amongst matches played between the three teams involved in the tiebreaker, the Eagles received a bye to the second tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker featured Hastings against Bellevue, with the Broncos squeaking out a 27-25 win.
 
In the second tiebreaker, the Eagles faced Hastings once again, just over 90 minutes after they had played their pool play match. The Blue and Gold trailed early, 7-3, but ERAU used a 12-1 run, keyed by eight Hastings errors, to jump out to a commanding 17-10 advantage. The Broncos put down four straight kills to pull within two points at 20-18, but Embry-Riddle rallied back with a 4-1 run to earn match point at 24-19. After Hastings won the next four points to pull within one (24-23), the Broncos blocked for a point to tie the tiebreaker at 24-all. A kill for Hastings gave the Broncos their first match point, and they capitalized with a kill that dribbled over the tape of the net, finishing the tiebreaker match at 26-24 in favor of Hastings.
 
The Eagles close out the 2012 season with an overall record of 29-6. ERAU's four seniors (Adriana Vazquez, Gloria Kemp, Jordan Holcomb, Taylor Martin) close out their careers as the first group of four four-year players to have never lost a Sun Conference regular season match; over their four years, Embry-Riddle went 52-0 in conference play and 116-24 overall. Those seniors won four regular season conference championships, three conference tournament titles, and advanced to the NAIA National Championship Final Site each of the last three years.