BOX SCORE

EL CAJON, Calif. --- For the second time in a week, Biola was forced to come back from a two-game deficit, this time fight back on the road to hold off San Diego Christian 23-25, 18-25, 25-18, 26-24, 15-11 in a GSAC match on Tuesday night at the Ryan Athletic Center.

The Eagles, who may have been looking ahead a bit to Wednesday's match against No. 5 and arch-rival Azusa Pacific, survived to improve to 21-8 on the season and move to 12-6 in conference play. The victory was the ninth in Biola's last 10 matches, a streak which began with a 3-1 victory over SDCC when the two met in La Mirada earlier this season. The Hawks fall to 10-21 overall and to 1-18 in the GSAC.

Though Tuesday's match didn't quite resemble the intensity of the five-set thriller Biola played against Vanguard University on Thursday, but it was another testament to the tenacity of the Eagles.

Biola was completely out-played in the first first two sets as the Hawks played spectacular defense and managed to keep the Eagles at bay. In the first set, San Diego Christian broke a 6-6 tie with a six-point run to go up 12-6. Biola closed the gap to two points later in the set at 22-20, then made it a one-point game at 24-23 after a block by Rachel Buckley and Kelsey Christoferson. However, San Diego Christian ended the rally as Courtney Barlow found the back corner for a kill giving the Hawks a 25-23 victory.

In the second set, Biola started out with momentum, opening a 6-3 victory. San Diego Christian then broke a 12-12 tie with an 8-1 run to take a 20-13 edge and cruised to a 25-18 win.

After falling behind by two games, the Eagles came alive in the third, scoring the first four points of the set and never trailing. Biola would lead by as many as six early on and put the set away with 7-3 run to record a 25-18 victory.

But San Diego Christian did not go away quietly and opened the fourth set with a big 11-5 run. The Eagles continued to trail 18-12 late in the set when the momentum of the match changed. Led by strong serving by Janae O'Connor and Christoferson used a 9-2 run to take back the lead at 21-20. After the teams exchanged points, the Hawks managed to take a 24-23 lead, earning match-point. However, Meghan Cunningham came right back with a kill to tie the score followed by a kill from Nicolette Mather and a SDCC attack error gave the Eagles the game at 26-24.

Biola never trailed in the fifth game, opening up with a 5-0 run and never looking back. San Diego Christian made the set close, pulling within two points late at 12-10. But after a timeout, the Eagles came right back with a pair of points to earn set point. After a side out by the Hawks delayed things a bit, Mather ended the match with a kill as the Eagles survived.

Mather led the Eagles with 15 kills while Tavea Hampton added 11 kills. Christoferson added 10 kills and four blocks.

Lauren Howard recorded a match-high 20 kills for the Hawks while Courtney Marlow added 17 kills.

Senior Katie Stevens had 19 digs for Biola, bringing her career total to 1,996. Stevens has 89 digs in her last four matches, averaging 5.2 digs per set over that stretch. She should easily eclipse the 2,000-dig mark on Wednesday at Azusa Pacific.

The Eagles return to action on Wednesday (Nov. 11), traveling to face No. 5 Azusa Pacific in a make-up match beginning at 7:00 p.m. The match, originally scheduled for the final week of October, was postponed due to a massive power outage affecting the city of Azusa.