By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – (Full Schedule) Nine teams kept their unbeaten pool play record intact Wednesday in Day 2 action at the 2014 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, presented by J&L Staffing and Recruiting. Five of the nine unbeaten teams are top seeds, while Georgetown (Ky.) is the only three-seed to remain undefeated.

The 24 programs in the national championship field are divided into six pools with four teams in each pool. The top two teams will advance to the single-elimination bracket starting Friday.

Defending national champion Texas at Brownsville extended is pool play winning streak to 14 matches with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Oregon. The sweep is the sixth-straight for the Ocelots in national championship pool play. Texas at Brownsville, which is vying to become the first program to win back-to-back titles since former-member Fresno Pacific (Calif.) won four-straight from 2007 – 2010, has not lost since falling to Concordia (Calif.), 3-2, on Oct. 24.

Similar to Texas at Brownsville, top-ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.) continued its dominant play with a 3-0 victory against Davenport (Mich.). The Battlin’ Bears have won 30-straight matches and punched a ticket into the elimination bracket of the championship with the win. Rocky Mountain will take on Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) tomorrow at 8 p.m. CST to decide which squad will emerge as the group’s top-team.

Despite dropping its first set since Oct. 24, Park (Mo.) improved to 36-0 – the only remaining unbeaten team in NAIA volleyball – with a 3-1 win against championship newcomer Eastern Oregon. American Midwest Conference Player of the Year Wendy Romero led the charge for the Pirates with a season-high 25 kills. The junior outside hitter also had three blocks and two service aces in the contest. The victory, combined with Evangel’s (Mo.) 3-2 defeat of Grand View (Iowa), guarantees Park a berth into the elimination bracket.

Arguably the most exciting match of the afternoon session was Evangel’s previously mentioned win against Grand View. The two sides’ alternated set wins before the Crusaders claimed a dominant 15-8 win in the decisive fifth set. Evangel, which held a .201-to-.172 edge in hitting, hammered home 7-of-12 attempts in the final stanza. Three Crusaders ended the match with double figure kills, led by a near double-double from Jackie Fugate – 12 kills and eight blocks. Evangel and Eastern Oregon square off tomorrow at 1 p.m. CST with a spot in the elimination round on the line.

Pool D was one of three groups – Pool A and Pool F being the others – that played out true to seed, as top-seed Biola (Calif.) downed Madonna (Mich.), 3-1, and No. 2 Viterbo (Wis.) handed Coastal Georgia its third loss of the season, 3-1. Both the Eagles and V-Hawks are unbeaten in pool action, but will break the tie atop the standings at 3:15 p.m. tomorrow.

Missouri Baptist and Northwestern (Iowa), the top teams in Pool F, kept their unblemished record with wins against Jamestown (N.D.) (3-1) and Indiana Wesleyan (3-1).

The day featured four significant upsets, including Georgetown’s 3-0 win against third-ranked and Pool C top seed Concordia. The Tigers, who downed the pool’s No. 2 team Midland (Neb.) last night in a five-set thriller, set the tone for the match in the opening frame with a 25-16 win. Georgetown won the next two sets by the count of 25-20. The Tigers are looking to advance into the elimination round for the third-straight season.

For the second day in a row, the final match of the day went five sets with College of Idaho defeating Midland (Neb.), 3-2. The Lady Yotes tallied 13 total blocks in the match, including 10 from Kylie Porter and six from Sierra Porter.

Pool play action continues Thursday starting at 1 p.m. inside the Tyson Events Center.

For more information on the NAIA Volleyball National Championship, click here.