AZUSA, Calif. --- No. 16 Biola arrived in Azusa with high expectations, but left with a feeling of Déjà Vu, falling 33-35, 27-30, 31-29, 30-28, 15-12 to No. 8 Azusa Pacific at Felix Event Center on Tuesday evening.
In a near carbon copy of the first encounter between the two teams back in September, the Eagles (12-10, 6-7 GSAC) won the first two games of the match but dropped the final three to the Cougars (17-5, 9-4 GSAC).
Biola received another outstanding performance by sophomore Meghan Scheenstra, who had 33 kills--the third time this season she has cracked the 30-kill plateau. Junior Brittany Wing had her best match in recent memory with a season-high 19 kills and 32 digs. Freshman setter Abbie Wright chipped in a career-best 70 assists to go along with three blocks and 16 digs.
The Cougars attack was quite balanced with three players recording 20 or more kills. Jill Baker led the way with 26, followed by Chelsea Morgan's 25 and Megan Burch's 20.
The first game was a nail-biter as the two teams went back and forth with neither team having larger than a four point lead. With the score tied at 24, Azusa went on a quick three-point run as Kelsey Knudsen recorded two of her eight kills. Azusa held game-point at 29-27 before the Eagles tied the game with kills by Wing and Kelsey Christopherson.
The teams exchanged points until, with the score knotted at 33, Meghan Cunningham picked up a kill and Biola closed out game one thanks to an attack error by Azusa.
In game two, Biola jumped out to a 10-3 lead with a balance attack and no errors. The Cougars were able to close the gap to three at 21-18 and to two at 29-27 before Christopherson picked up the kill to end game two.
Game three open with Azusa taking a quick 9-1 lead and expanded that lead to 18-9 before Biola woke up. The Eagles went on a monster run of their own and tied the match at 20-20 led by the three kills apiece by Christopherson and Wing. Biola took its first lead of the game at 24-23 thanks to a kill by Scheenstra, but with a 27-25 lead, Azusa rattled off six of the final eight points to take the game.
The fourth game looked to be Biola's after a seven-point run gave them an early 12-7 lead. The Eagles held off Azusa and led by as many as six late in the match at 20-14. The Cougars slowly chipped away until they tied the match at 25. Then, with the score tied at 28, Morgan tied up the match with back-to-back kills.
Game five was another back-and-forth affair as neither team could gain control early. But, with the score tied at 10, Azusa put together three straight points, then exchanged side outs for the victory.
Biola hit well overall, swining at a .218 clip to Azusa's .189. The Eagles also out-blocked the Cougars 16-10, but Azusa made up for it with an 8-3 edge in service aces.
The young Eagle squad has struggled in five-game matches, dropping all five matches that have gone the distance this season.
Biola will look to return to its winning ways on Friday (Oct. 20) as it faces off with McPherson College of Kansas in a non-conference, neutral site contest at La Verne University at 4:00 p.m.
