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IRVINE, Calif. --- Biola University continued its season-opening winning-streak with a pair of victories in first round action in the Concordia University Labor Day Classic on Friday afternoon in Irvine.

The Eagles, who are ranked No. 11 in the NAIA Preseason poll, improve to 5-0 on the season with the victories. They opened the day with a 30-17, 30-23, 30-19 sweep over Olivet Nazarene University and closed out the day with a 29-31, 30-28, 30-11, 26-30, 15-2 thriller over No. 6 Albertson College.

Biola's win over Albertson was a Jekyll and Hyde match for the Eagles, who played two of the best games in school history, but struggled in two of its worst games of the year.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick lead in game one, but the Coyotes fought back to tie the score at 23. The teams traded points back and forth until Albertson scored two straight with the scored tied at 29-29 to take the game.

Things did not look good for the Eagles as they found themselves trailing 27-23 in game two. However, Biola scored seven of the next eight points to take the game and swing the momentum back in its favor.

That momentum carried over into a big game three, starting with the Eagles jumping out to a 10-0 lead thanks to the strong serving of setter Abbie Wright. Biola cruised to the easy victory and wound up posting a .581 hitting percentage, recording 18 kills with no errors in 31 total attacks.

However, the Coyotes were able to power back and forced a fifth game with a 30-26 win in the fourth game, despite being down early on. But game five was all Biola. The Eagles again received a strong serving run by Wright as they jumped out a quick 7-0 lead, then closed out the match on an 8-0 run.

Biola's Meghan Warkentin (Scheenstra) had five of her match-high 28 kills in the deciding fifth game. Jessica Buffum added 15 kills with Kristen Peterson contributing 14 and Brittany Wing recording 11.

The Eagles cruised past Olivet Nazarene in the first match of the day with Warkentin recording 17 kills and Wing adding 12. They hit .365 for the match and recorded 12 kills with Wright recording four and leading the team with 23 assists.

Biola closes out the tournament on Saturday (Sept. 1) with two games, facing the University of Great Falls at 11:00 a.m. and Westminster University at 5:00 p.m.