LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Fans who watched the first game and the start of the second between No. 16 Biola and No. 3 Cal Baptist Saturday night, might have been tempted to leave a bit early or find something else to entertain themselves.
However, had they left early, they would have missed one of the most improbable come-from-behind upset victories in recent memory for the Eagles, who pulled a stunning 19-30, 30-25, 31-29, 30-15 upset over Cal Baptist Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium in La Mirada.
California Baptist, which dropped a five-game match earlier this week while playing without its two best players, had its full roster to draw from Saturday night, but still struggled late in the match.
The Eagles (14-10, 7-7 GSAC) recorded the upset over the two-time defending NAIA champion Lancers (22-5, 12-3 GSAC) in a surprising comeback.
"I thought we grew up a lot today," said Biola Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "Our middles and our freshman really seemed to come together and fight back from a tough first game.
"Hopefully, this win is good momentum going into this week. We have a tough few weeks ahead of us playing at Westmont on Tuesday, then hosting a tough Vanguard team on Thursday."
Biola looked overmatched in the first game and didn't play much better to start the second, trailing 9-1 early on. The Lancers blasted their way to a .565 attack percentage in game one and committed just three errors en route to the 30-19 win.
Game two started out with Cal Baptist scoring the first seven points and trailed 15-7 at the midpoint of the match. But Biola didn't give up and the Eagles narrowed the gap to 15-14 with a great run by junior Caroline Rutenbar. Rutenbar had two aces in the run and sophomore Meghan Scheenstra and freshman Meghan Cunningham made a pair of blocks to help the comeback.
Biola recorded its first lead at 19-18 and went back and forth with the Lancers until Scheenstra and freshman Kelsey Christoferson recorded kills to close out the game.
In game three, both teams kept things close up until the end of the match when Biola trailed 29-27. Scheenstra saved the day for the Eagles with a monster kill, then sophomore Kristen Peterson served three straight winners to snap victory from the jaws of defeat.
Biola then dominated the fourth game, jumping out to a 10-4 lead and cruising to an easy win. The Eagles swung at a .393 clip and held Cal Baptist to just an .026 attack percentage in one of the best games they have played all season.
Scheenstra finished with 22 kills, seven digs and four blocks to lead the way for Biola. Sophomore Kelsey Mitchell added 12 kills while Christoferson recorded eight kills and five blocks.
Junior Brittany Wing played excellent defense, leading the way with 15 digs. She also had five kills and three blocks.
Freshman setter Abbie Wright set a great game after struggling a bit the last few matches. Wright recorded 45 assists and also had nine digs.
Verania Willis--one of the players missing from the Lancers' attack earlier this week, led the way for Cal Baptist with 18 kills. Shi Fei added 14, though she committed five blocking errors.
The Eagles held the other Cal Baptist star--Angela Willis--to just six kills in 26 attempts, and forced her into committing 10 errors.
Biola looks to keep the momentum rolling as it travels to face Westmont in Santa Barbara on Tuesday (Oct. 24) at 7:00 p.m.
