BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Junior outside hitter Meghan Warkentin had 20 kills to lead Biola to a 30-21, 30-20, 29-31, 30-18 win over Vanguard University in a GSAC match between two NAIA Top-25 teams on Thursday night at Chase Gymnasium.
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in the latest NAIA Poll, improve to 8-0 on the season and 1-0 in GSAC play while the Lions, ranked No. 20, drop to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the GSAC.
Warkentin led a balanced attack for Biola as three players had double-figure kills. Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Christoferson added 14, junior outside hitter Jessica Buffum had 12 and sophomore middle blocker Kristen Peterson had nine.
In addition to her 14 kills, Christoferson also had three blocks and committed just two errors, finshing with an impressive .480 hitting percentage. She leads Biola with a .414 attack percentage on the season.
The Eagles used little runs to break open games one and two. In game one, junior setter Christina Perkins led Biola on a 6-0 run to break a 10-10 tie while it was sophomore libero Katie Stevens serving out eight straight points with the Eagles down 13-10 in game two.
Vanguard jumped out to a 10-3 lead in game three, but Biola quickly caught them and tied the match at 13. Later, trailing 27-23, the Eagles again rallied and would eventually tie the game at 29-29 on a blast by Warkentin. However, the Lions stole the momentum right back with consecutive kills to take the game 31-29.
Biola came out fighting in game four, not wanting to risk a fifth game. With the score tied at 3-3, the Eagles went on a slow-but-steady 16-7 run and wrapped up the match with back-to-back kills by Christoferson and Warkentin.
The Biola setting duo of junior Christina Perkins and sophomore Abbie Wright had a great night with Perkins recording 23 assists, 14 digs and two aces while Wright had 31 assists and 13 digs.
Stevens played well on defense for the Eagles, recording 19 digs including a number of impressive saves to keep a rally going.
The Lions were led by the team-high 17 kills from outside hitter Kelsey Wirt. The Eagles held Vanguard to a .086 hitting percentage while hitting .237 on their own.
Biola returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 8) for another GSAC match, this time traveling to Santa Barbara to face Westmont College at 5:00 p.m.
