GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – After dismantling the Sun Conference in yesterday's opening duals of the 2025 NAIA Beach Volleyball National Invitational, the No. 2-ranked Corban University Beach Volleyball team downed a pair of Great Southwest Athletic Conference (GSAC) opponents to advance to the national semifinals tomorrow morning, securing a 4-1 pool play finale against No. 3-ranked The Master's University before a 3-1 quarterfinal win over No. 5-ranked Arizona Christian University to advance to the final day of NAIA beach volleyball for a fourth-consecutive season.

"Today tested our Warriors' beach skills and mental toughness," Corban head coach Dan Stephens evaluated. "Due to weather, we had to start our first match the earliest we've played all year long, and then we had weather delays in the afternoon and having to wait until 4pm to start the first round of bracket play. That made for a long day waiting around to play, and then just when we got warmed up, we had to stop again for lightning. The team pushed through and showed grit to beat a good Arizona Christian team. Tomorrow, we will battle SOU for the 6th time this year in the national semifinals, so we will need to be ready for a tough match."

Yesterday, the Warriors (25-1) kicked off NAIA final site play with back-to-back victories to setup a "winner-take-all" pool play finale with the No. 3-ranked Mustangs (17-14), with the winner emerging as the top seed from Pool B and representing the only undefeated team remaining at the national tournament.

The Navy and Gold's ever-reliable fourth pairing of junior Alexis Adebodun and freshman Gabi Engels kicked off the scoring with impressive 21-13 and 21-15 victories, followed by a three-set win in the second pair by sophomores Danae Stokes and Cammie Masanda for the first of two three-set pair wins for Corban.

The CCC Pair of the Year, senior Jessica McMillian and junior Emmi Marks, clinched the winning decision for the third-straight match in their own three-setter, as they dropped the initial set before rebounding with 23-21 and 15-9 second and third sets. In the fives, redshirt sophomore Erin Scott and freshman Rebecca Wilber picked up a straight-set victory, 21-19 and 21-12 to earn the Warriors' fourth pair win of the match.

Moving into bracket play following an over 30-minute rain and lightning delay, Corban earned the top seed of Pool B and matched up with the last-place seed of Pool A, the No. 5-ranked Firestorm, who had most recently handed the Warriors a pool play loss in last year's national championships and were looking to do be the first to do so once again in Greeneville this afternoon.

For the fourth-straight dual, the Navy and Gold secured a 2-0 pair advantage through the opening bouts, as Stokes and Masanda dominated their ACU opponents via 21-12, 21-9 sets before Adebodun and Engels avenged their first set loss of the tournament of a 25-23 extra point opener with 21-18 and 16-14 second and third set scores to clinch the comeback victory.

While the Firestorm were able to pick up a win in the top overall pairing with extra-point set wins, McMillian and Marks sealed the quarterfinal victory for the fourth-straight dual and booked the Warriors' return to the NAIA national semifinals once again. Of the starting five pairs this season for Coach Stephens, McMillian and senior Megan Dennis have now reached the national semifinal stage in every season of competition.

#2 Corban 4, #3 The Master's 1

1. Evi Roberts/Annika Gudnason (TMU) def. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) 22-20, 22-20

2. Cammie Masanda/Danae Stokes (CRB) def. Faith Wada/Zoe Yates (TMU) 22-20, 17-21, 15-12

3. Emmi Marks/Jessica McMillian (CRB) def. Grace Colburn/Violet Avila (TMU) 15-21, 23-21, 15-9

4. Alexis Adebodun/Gabi Engels (CRB) def. Isabela Rodriguez/Ashlyn Unruh (TMU) 21-13, 21-15

5. Rebecca Wilber/Erin Scott (CRB) def. Eleana Niehus/Ellie Unruh (TMU) 21-19, 21-12

#2 Corban 3, #5 Arizona Christian 1

1. Haley Brown/Riley Brown (ACU) def. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) 22-20, 22-20

2. Cammie Masanda/Danae Stokes (CRB) def. Eliana Cho/Brianna Boeckman (ACU) 21-12, 21-9

3. Emmi Marks/Jessica McMillian (CRB) def. Abigail Nelson/Emme Fellens (ACU) 21-12, 21-15

4. Alexis Adebodun/Gabi Engels (CRB) def. Emily Katzer/Jaiden Mistelski-Zeis (ACU) 23-25, 21-18, 16-14

5. Rebecca Wilber/Erin Scott (CRB) led Alyssa Robles/Kapri Espinosa (ACU) 21-11, 20-22, 14-8 (truncated)

Tomorrow morning at 11am ET/8am PT, the Warriors and their conference rivals and No. 8-ranked Southern Oregon University (19-13) will clash for a sixth time in the 2025 season, as they'll look to push their 5-0 record against the Raiders this year to a semifinal sixth win that will clinch them a spot in the national championship match at 2pm ET/11am PT. The opposing semifinal featuring No. 1-ranked Ottawa University Arizona and No. 4-ranked Park University (Mo.) will take place simultaneously with the Warriors and Raiders on the remaining three courts at the Greeneville Beach Volleyball Complex.

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