Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was just the second meeting all-time between No. 19 Biola and No. 6 Midland (Neb.), but boy was it one for the record books. The Eagles and Warriors battled point-for-point for four full sets before the higher ranked team ultimately came away with a 3-2 (28-26, 25-23, 23-25, 17-25, 15-3) victory.
 
Biola fell short in both of the first two sets and saw itself in a tough place with its back against the wall against a top-10 opponent. The Eagles struggled to sideout late in the first set and watched a 15-12 lead turn into a gut-wrenching 28-26 loss. Then they gave up four of the last five points in set two to watch a 22-21 lead turn into a 25-23 loss.
 
All thought of those first two disappointments faded away over the next two frames as the Eagles played what Head Coach Aaron Seltzer called their best volleyball of the 2016 season.
 
"It was a great four-game match," said Seltzer. "Through those four games we played, by far, the best we've been all year with this group. We played better for longer stretches of time, but we just ran up against a veteran Midland team in the fifth."
 
Biola eeked out a win in the third set as it took advantage of some unconventional Midland errors to capitalize and win 25-23. The turning points in the set had to be when the Eagles got six consecutive points to open their scoring (four of them coming by way of MU errors), and when the Eagles came out of a timeout at 23-23 to get the last two points of the set with a Brook Watts kill and Watts and Ally Forsberg block,
 
The fourth set was more convincing as BU recorded its most effective hitting percentage of the match (.312) and held the Warriors to their lowest number of attack attempts in a 25-17 win.
 
Both teams' statistics were virtually identical for the match, but the one big area of difference was in service aces. Midland recorded eight, while Biola could muster just four.
 
One of those eight service aces came in the fifth set when Midland closed out the match with a 15-3 victory. The Warriors' Haelee Kowalski served up nine points in a row as Midland turned a competitive 5-3 set into the wide margin it ended as.
 
 
Still, the match will be viewed in large part as a positive for this young Eagles team as it proved it could definitely hold its own among the best teams in the country.
 
"They did a really good job," said Seltzer. "We matched up really well and did a good job defending them. I thought Hannah and Brooke on the outside did really well all match and we are growing and getting better."
 
Hannah van Warmerdam and Brooke Watts ended the match as the team's top attackers with 19 kills and 14 kills, respectively. Also, Tess Van Grouw was an absolute floor general in the back row. She ended with 21 digs and set her teammates up well with great passing throughout the match.
 
Biola falls to 2-2 overall but it has a chance to return to its winning ways on Friday night in a 6:00 p.m. matchup with No. 4 Viterbo (3-1).