BOX SCORE

LA MIRADA ,Calif. --- For the second time in as many Halloween matches, Biola played scary-good and pulled off a shocking upset, this time recording a 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 25-21 victory over No. 2 California Baptist on Saturday night in a GSAC match at Chase Gymnasium.

The Eagles, ranked No. 11 in the latest NAIA National Poll, improve to 18-8 on the season and are now 9-6 in GSAC play thanks to their sixth victory in their last seven matches. The Lancers,  fell to 23-3 and to 13-3 in the conference.

The match seemed to be a carbon copy of a Halloween match from two seasons ago, when the Eagles handed No. 1 Fresno Pacific its only loss of the season in a five-set thriller. In fact, Biola is now 7-2 all-time on October 31, including wins in its last five-straight.

Freshman Nicolette Mather and sophomore Kim Russell led the Eagles with 13 kills each. Mather had a strong match, recording 13 kills in 28 swings for a .357 attack percentage while adding three blocks. Senior Kelsey Christoferson added 10 kills and five blocks for Biola.

The Eagles played well from start to finish, posting a .229 attack percentage in the match and committing just 19 attack errors to the Lancers' 29. Biola also had 10 blocks and nnie aces in the match, four of which came from sophomore Christian Woodruff, who led numerous long runs for Biola.

In the first set, the Eagles took control with an early 5-0 run on strong serving by Woodruff, turning a 6-7 deficit into an 11-7 lead. After exchanging points, Biola stretched the lead to eight with another five-point run, this time taking advantage of a pair of blocks and kills by Mather and Russell to go up 18-10. The Lancers closed the gap to three on a 7-2 run, but the Eagles ended the run on a kill by Mather and closed out the set with a pair of kills by Russell to win 25-20.

The second set featured 11 ties as the teams battled back and forth throughout. Biola broke the last tie at 14-14 with a quick three-point run as Mather and Tavea Hampton each recorded a kill, then combined on a block to make it 17-14. The Lancers pulled it within a single point a bit later at 19-18, but the Eagles rattled off five-straight points to go up 24-18. They would pull out the set a few points later to go up two games to none in the match.

The third set looked to be heading to a big Cal Baptist blowout as the visitors quickly by jumping out to a 7-4 lead and extending it to 20-12. The Eagles still trailed 22-14 when they mounted a rally for the ages. Woodruff served out a six-point run which included three of her four aces, pulling Biola back to within two at 22-20. A service error gave the Lancers the ball back, but Russell got the point right back with a kill to make it 23-21. Rachel Buckley then served four-straight points including a big service ace to give the Eagles their first match point at 24-23. However, the Lancers fought back with kills from Ingrid Carmona and a Biola error to take the set 26-24.

In the fourth set, the Lancers broke a 9-9 tie with a 6-2 run to go up 15-11 near the midway point of the match, but Biola came right back with a five-point run to go up 16-15. However, that was just the beginning for the Eagles, who ended up with a long 10-1 run to take a commanding 21-16 lead and closed out the match moments later with a big kill by Russell.

Ingrid Carmona led the Lancers with a match-high 14 kills while Melinda Adelin and Fei Shi added 11 each.

The victory was the third-straight for the Eagles over the Lancers, who had won seven of the last eight meetings prior to that. It was also Biola's second win over a team ranked in the NAIA Top Five this season as the Eagles defeated Concordia in five earlier this year. Overall, Biola is 4-8 against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25, though they have now won four of their last six including three of their last four against Top 10 teams.

Biola returns to action on Thursday (Nov. 5) in a match which could have huge GSAC and NAIA implications as the Eagles face No. 10 Vanguard. The winner of the match will have the inside track to finish in the top five in the conference and could secure a first-round bye in the NAIA Tournament. The match begins at 7:00 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium.