BOX SCORE

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Despite falling behind by two sets early, No. 10 Biola rallied back, fighting off five match points to pull out a 19-25, 22-25, 29-27, 31-29, 15-12 victory over No. 11 Vanguard in a GSAC match on Thursday night at Chase Gymnasium.

The Eagles run their record to 19-8 on the season and are now 10-6 in conference play having won seven of their last eight matches. The Lions fall to 16-11 overall and to 10-8 in the GSAC.

While the match wasn't the prettiest statistically, it was a thriller featuring a total of 60 tie scores and 29 lead changes, most of which came in the final three sets. Biola was able to win despite hitting just .106 in the match, it's lowest attack percentage in a win since rally scoring began in 2001.However, the Eagles held Vanguard to a .102 attack percentage and managed to hang around long enough to win.

Freshman Nicolette Mather recorded a team-high 14 kills to pace Biola while sophomore Kim Russell added 13 kills. Middle blocker Tavea Hampton had eight blocks and seven kills while senior Meghan Cunningham matched her block total and added three kills.

The match got off to an awful start for the Eagles as they came out flat and Vanguard took control early. The Lions opened up the match with a 5-2 lead, the blew the match wide open with a seven-point run a bit later to take a commanding 18-9 lead. Biola would narrow the gap a bit, but Vanguard wound up with a relatively easy 25-19 victory.

The second set was a bit closer with the teams hanging close to each other for the most part. Biola led 20-19 late in the set, but a service error gave the ball back to Vanguard tied at 20-20. The Lions then rattled off five of the final seven points thanks to three kills, a block and a service ace to win 25-22 and go up 2-0 in the match.

The Lions came out strong in the third set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead and using an 8-4 run to take a 19-16 lead late. But the Eagles came alive, responding with a 4-1 run of their own to take a 21-20 lead. But the see-saw was just getting warmed up. Biola looked to take the set after three-straight points gave them a 24-22 lead. But the Lions came right back with three points of their own to set up match-point at 25-24. It was the first of two match-points Vanguard held in the third set, both of which were fought off by kills from Russell. With the score tied at 27-27 after one of those kills, Biola was able to close out the set on back-to-back attack errors by the Lions.

The story was nearly the same in the fourth set as the teams exchanged long runs through much of the set with neither side holding a lead of more than three points. Late in the set, a kill by Vanguard's Lisa Morgan tied the score at 23-23, then an ace by Jamie Heenan gave the Lions match-point #3. With a chance to put the match away in four, Kelsey Wirt committed an attack error, giving the Eagles new life.

The two teams again battled back and fourth with the Lions holding another two match-points, the last coming at 28-27. Again, an Vanguard attack error cost the Lions a chance to win the match and knotted the score at 28-28. Biola was having trouble closing out the set as well, earning four set-points but not closing out the set until a kill by Mather finally ended the fourth set with Biola winning 31-29.

The Eagles fell behind early in the fifth and decisive set, trailing 4-2 after a three-point run by the Lions. However, Biola responded with a 4-1 run of their own which featured kills from Mather and Janae O'Connor as well as a combo block by Hampton and Cunningham. Vanguard took back the lead temporarily after a Biola service error and attack error, taking a 7-6 lead. The Eagles again responded with a three-point run capped by a big block from Cunningham and Justine Schoneveld to put them up 9-7.

The Lions would tie the score at 9-9, but the Eagles again came back with two quick points and would never trail again. Vanguard would pull within one at 12-11, but Mather helped close out the match with two kills including one on match-point to give Biola the set at 15-12 and an improbable five-set victory.

Vanguard's Heather DeJongh recorded a match-high 19 kills and added four blocks while Jamie Heenan added 17 kills, three blocks and four aces. However, star outside hitter Kelsey Wirt was held to just 11 kills and committed 21 errors in 56 swings. Wirt failed to record a kill in the final two sets and had seven attack errors in 19 attempts.

The Eagles return to action on Saturday (Nov. 7), traveling to Westmont College to take on the No. 25-ranked Warriors at 7:00 p.m. in Santa Barbara. The match is the start of a three-match road trip which wraps up Wednesday, Nov. 11, with a trip to No. 5 Azusa Pacific to make-up the match which was postponed due to a power outage last week. Biola closes out the regular season with a home match against No. 15 Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday, Nov. 14. All remaining matches begin at 7:00 p.m.