BELLEVUE BOX SCORE | WESTMINSTER BOX SCORE
IRVINE, Calif. --- The No. 4-ranked Biola University volleyball team improved to 6-0 on the season with a pair of wins over fellow NAIA Top-25 teams on Friday afternoon in day one action at the Concordia University Labor Day Festival in Irvine.
The Eagles (6-0) ground out a tough 23-25, 25-22, 14-25, 25-15, 15-13 win over No. 22 Bellevue University (Neb.) to open the day, then pulled off a 25-14, 25-20, 25-15 sweep over No. 24 Westminster College (Utah) in the nightcap.
Biola had a tough time with Bellevue (1-1) in the first match as the Bruins came out swinging. The Eagles fell behind 8-3 early in the first set and trailed 18-12 before going on a 10-2 run to take a 22-20 lead. But Bellevue rallied back and scored five of the final six points to take the first game.
The two teams went back and forth in a second set which saw 12 ties and three lead changes. Biola was the first to take a two-point lead in the set, scoring three-straight points to take a 15-13 lead. Bellevue again fought back with a short run of its own to tie the score at 20-20 but the Eagles responded with a final 5-2 run to take the set and knot the match.
Bellevue seemed to take an insurmountable 2-1 lead with a dominating 25-14 win in game three. The Bruins posted a .548 attack percentage and appeared to take control of the match. The Eagles then returned the favor in the fourth game, blowing open a close set with a 14-4 run an cruising to a 25-15 win to force a fifth set.
In the deciding set, Biola work its way to a quick 7-4 lead only to see Bellevue slowly chip away and tie the score at 11-11. The score remained tied moments later at 13-13 when outside hitter Jessica Buffum recorded a kill followed by another from outside hitter Kelsey Mitchell to give the Eagles the hard-fought victory.
Senior outside hitter Meghan Warkentin led the way against Bellevue with 19 kills and finished with four blocks including three solos. Senior middle blocker Kristen Peterson continued her strong play with 14 kills and three blocks of her own.
In the second match, Biola had little trouble with Westminster, hitting .372 to WC's attack percentage of .054. Peterson again led the way with 11 kills and just two errors in 16 attacks, adding four blocks.
For the day, Peterson recorded 25 kills and posted a .419 attack percentage with seven blocks. Warkentin had 26 kills, five blocks and six digs for Biola.
The Eagles close out the tournament on Saturday (8/30/08) with another pair of ranked teams, facing No. 11 Georgetown University (Ky.) at 9:00 a.m. and No. 12 Southern Oregon University at 1:00 p.m.
