BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Junior outside hitter Jessica Buffum had a match-high 15 kills and 17 digs to lead No. 5 Biola to a 17-30, 30-17, 30-23, 30-28 win over arch-rival and No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific University in a GSAC volleyball match Tuesday night at Chase Gymnasium.
The Eagles (15-2, 8-2 GSAC) used a balanced attack with four players recording 10 or more kills and relied on a major home-court advantage with 778 rowdy fans packed into the gym.
Senior outside hitter Brittany Wing added 12 kills in the match before injuring her knee late and not returning. Wing now has 1,011 in her career, making her just the eighth player in school history to reach the 1,000-kill plateau.
The Cougars (12-5, 5-4 GSAC) were led by Chelsea Daley, who recorded 13 kills in the loss.
Azusa Pacific took a bit of the air out of Chase Gymnasium early on, jumping out to a quick 14-9 lead in game one and crusing to the easy 30-17 win. The Cougars seemed unable to do wrong, hitting .405 in the game while the Eagles struggled to a .077 attack percentage.
However, things turned around in the second game for Biola, which opened with a 13-5 run and rolled to a 30-17 win. The Eagles pounded out 17 kills in the game and hit .316 while holding the Cougars to a .065 attack percentage.
Game three seemed to be more along the lines of what a Biola/APU match should be as the teams battled neck-and-neck for most of the game. With the score knotted at 16-16, Biola scored four quick points thanks to a kill and a block by middle blocker Meghan Cunningham and a pair of kills by outside hitter Meghan Warkentin. The Cougars later pulled within three at 26-23, but Warkentin and Buffum each had big kills before defensive specialist Caroline Rutenbar ended the game with an ace.
After falling behind early in game four, Biola rallied back and took an 18-14 lead midway though the game. The Eagles would stretch that lead to as many as five at 23-18 before a 5-1 Azusa Pacific run pulled the Cougars to within one at 24-23. Four straight Azusa errors would give the Eagles what appeared to be a commanding lead at 28-23, but the Cougars rallied again and scored five straight points to tie the score at 28-28. But Cunningham again came through with a big kill to force match point and an APU error gave the Eagles the 30-28 victory.
Cunningham finished with three kills, but added five blocks for the Eagles. Warkentin added 11 kills and 10 digs for the Eagles while outside hitter Kelsey Mitchell added 10 kills and three blocks.
The victory was the first for the Eagles against Azusa Pacific since they swept the Cougars on November 4, 2003. Last season, APU won three times including a 3-1 win in the NAIA Region II Playoffs.
The Eagles return to action on Saturday (Oct. 6) as they close out the first half of the GSAC schedule against Cal Baptist at 7:00 p.m.
