BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Sophomore
Kim Russell recorded 11 kills but it was not enough as No. 1 Fresno Pacific defeated No. 11 Biola 25-7, 25-21, 25-18 in a GSAC match on Tuesday night at Chase Gymnasium.
The loss snaps the Eagles' four-match winning streak and drops them to 16-8 on the season and to 7-6 in conference play. The Sunbirds remain perfect at 24-0 and 13-0 in the GSAC.
Biola really could never get going against Fresno Pacific in the match, stumbling out the gate, losing the first set 25-7. The Eagles trailed 10-5 early on as they kept the match relatively close, but the Sunbirds ran away with the set, scoring 15 of the final 17 points. Biola could only manage four kills and committed seven attack errors while FPU hit .346 with just a pair of errors.
In the second set, Biola came out slow but picked up the pace midway through and gave Fresno Pacific a run. The Sunbirds jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but the Eagles slowly closed the gap and made it a two-point game at 11-9. After exchanging points, Fresno Pacific used an 8-3 run to take a 21-14 lead. Biola made things interesting late, using a 6-3 run to make it 24-21, but Martina Gregusova ended the run with a kill to give the Sunbirds the victory.
The two teams started the third set rather evenly and the Eagles knotted the score at 8-8 early on thanks to a big kill by
Meghan Cunningham and an FPU attack error. However, the Sunbirds rattled off a 7-1 run to take a 15-9 lead and later--after Biola had cut the lead to three at 16-13--used an 8-3 run to put the match away.
Russell finished with 11 kills, her second-straight match in double-figures for the Eagles. However, freshman
Nicolette Mather was the next closest with four kills.
Gregusova led the Sunbirds with 11 kills while Michelle Johnson added seven and had four blocks. Freshman Lauren Albertson had just four kills but recorded eight blocks including one solo.
Biola returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 24), traveling to Santa Clarita for a GSAC match against The Master's College. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
