BOX SCORE

IRVINE, Calif. --- Sophomore Kim Russell recorded 16 kills to help Biola keep up its red-hot play with a stunning 25-22, 17-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-8 upset win over No. 3 Concordia University in a GSAC match in Irvine on Saturday night.

Biola improves to 16-7 on the season with its fourth-straight victory and second in as many matches against NAIA Top-10 teams. The victory also bumps Biola up to 7-5 in GSAC play. Concordia falls to 21-4 overall and drops into a three-way tie for third in the GSAC with an 8-4 record.

Russell led a balanced attack for Biola as nine of 10 players recorded at least one kill for the visitors. The lone player to not record a kill was libero Katie Stevens who contributed 11 digs and three aces in lieu of a kill. Junior Tavea Hampton and freshman Nicolette Mather added 10 kills each while senior Kelsey Christoferson recorded nine kills.

Biola also won the battle at the net with an impressive 13 blocks. It was the third-straight match in which Biola recorded 10 or more blocks after having just two such matches in the previous 20 matches. Freshman setter Justine Shoneveld recorded six blocks including one solo while Hampton matched that total with six blocks and senior Meghan Cunningham had four blocks and added three kills

"Everyone played very well for us tonight," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "I really can't pin it on one player, we needed everyone and everyone did really well. Meghan (Cunningham) controlled the net and our middles played very well. Justine (Schoneveld) set a great match and we were passing perfectly. We pretty much did everything we needed to do to win and did it very well."

Biola got the jump on Concordia with a big win in the first set. The set started out as a close battle, going back and forth after Biola took an early lead. Biola trailed 18-17 after a brief two-point run by Concordia, but rallied back with a 5-1 run of its own to go up 22-19. After a timeout, Concordia scored three-straight points to pull within one at 22-21. But after a kill by Christoferson and an attack error by Concordia, Biola was looking at set-point. Concordia pulled one point closer with a kill by Stephanie Darnall, but gave up the set on a service error on the next serve.

Concordia roared back in the second set, scoring the first seven points thanks in large part to four kills by Amber Ridens. Concordia would not allow Biola to get any closer than five points down the stretch and tied the match at 1-1 with the 25-17 victory.

Biola broke open the third set with a 5-1 run to go up 14-11 near the midway point of what was a close set. Concordia battled back to close the gap to two at 15-13, but Biola came right back with a 7-2 run to take a commanding 22-15 lead in the set. Biola would exchange points the rest of the way and go up 2-1 with a 25-18 victory.

In the fourth set, Biola got the early jump leading by as many as four at 16-12. But Concordia refused to go down without a fight, mounting a quick 5-1 run to tie the score at 17-17. The teams played things tight the rest of the way until--with the score knotted at 23-23--Concordia pulled out the final two points thanks to a kill by Ridens and a Biola attack error.

Biola opened up the decisive fifth set with two quick points on a kill by Christoferson and block by Hampton and Schoneveld. After the teams exchanged points, Biola stretch the lead to four at 7-3 on a trio of attack errors by Concordia, the third coming on Biola's 13th block of the match. Biola then stretched the lead to five on a kill by Christoferson and another Concordia attack error.

Concordia slowly cut the lead down to three at 10-7 but Biola responded after a timeout with a pair of kills by Russell and an ace by Katie Stevens to extend the advantage to 13-7. After exchanging points, Biola ended the match with kills by Hampton and Janae O'Connor.

The victory was particularly impressive considering all of the injuries Biola is currently dealing with. Freshman Rachel Buckley, who had a school-record 12 blocks in the Eagles win at Point Loma last week, missed the match with an ankle injury. Christoferson was not scheduled to play as she is still recovering from a sore ankle and Hampton has been battling a bug the last few days. That is in addition to missing junior defensive specialist Lindsay Dietzen, who is out for two weeks with a leg injury and senior setter Abbie Wright and junior outside hitter Joy Talcott, who are out for the season.

Concordia received a match-high 18 kills from Ridens, who also committed eight errors in the contest. Cassie Ells had 14 kills and Stephanie Darnall added 12.

The victory is just Biola's third over Concordia in the last 13 meetings and the first in Irvine since 2005.

As mentioned before, Biola has been red-hot lately, winning four-straight including a pair of road wins over NAIA Top-10 teams. One week ago today, Biola recorded a season-best 18 blocks en route to a four-set win over then No. 9-ranked Point Loma Nazarene University.

Biola will look to carry the momentum from its huge victory into its next match as the Eagles host No. 1 Fresno Pacific University in a GSAC contest on Tuesday (Oct. 20) at 7:00 p.m.