FRESNO, Calif. – The Biola volleyball squad picked up an easy win to open the day and nearly pulled off a huge upset in the nightcap of the final day of the Fresno Pacific Sunbird Invitational Saturday.

The Eagles skated past Holy Names by scores of 30-14, 30-14, 30-22, but fell just short in a five-game 28-30, 34-32, 30-26, 25-30, 15-8 loss to No. 12 Savannah College of Arts and Design.

Sophomore Meghan Scheenstra was outstanding in her first action of the season. She recorded 53 kills in three matches including 25 in the marathon with Savannah, earning her all-tournament honors.

In the match with Savannah, Biola took game one thanks to a pair of errors by the Bees with the score knotted at 28.

The second game was a pure thriller, as the two teams went back and forth before Savannah pulled it out. After a service ace by Brittany Wing tied things up at 19, neither team was able to get a lead bigger than one point until a pair of Eagle attack errors gave the Bees a 34-32 win.

Biola jumped out to a big lead in the third game and held a 26-24 edge before Savannah rattled off six unanswered point.

After the Eagles managed a relatively easy wire-to-wire win in game four, Savannah put the match away in the fifth. The Bees went on a 7-1 run and cruised to the win in the final game.

For Savannah, Cristina Payne recorded 34 kills, 14 digs and three aces. Emily Bumby added 17 and Katie Richardson contributed 14 in the winning effort.

In addition to Scheenstra, Kelsey Mitchell continued to impress, picking up 15 kills and three blocks.

Biola travels to Irvine for the Concordia Labor Day Festival this Friday and Saturday (Sept. 1-2).