BOX SCORE

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Playing in its first match of the season against a Top-10 team, No. 17 Biola held its own for most of its home-opener against No. 2 Concordia. However, Biola ultimately fell 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 25-20 in a GSAC match in front of a loud crowd of 641 fans on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium.

The loss drops Biola to 10-3 on the season and 1-1 in GSAC play and snaps its five-match winning streak. Concordia remains perfect at 15-0 and 2-0 in the conference.

Sophomore Kim Russell led Biola with 12 kills while senior Meghan Cunningham added nine from the right side.

Biola opened up the match with a surprising start, opening up a 7-2 lead. However, after an early timeout, Concordia responded and would tie the score at 10-10. The two teams continued to battle back and forth from there with Biola taking a 22-21 lead on a kill by Russell. However, Concordia would block Russell's attack on the next rally to tie the game, then rattled off the next three points to take the set, with the last two kills coming from Concordia star Amber Ridens. The junior finished the contest with 17 kills overall.

In the second set, Biola again jumped out to a quick lead, opening with a 7-3 advantage and never looking back. Biola eventually opened a 10-5 lead only see to see Concordia pull within two at 15-13. Still leading by two at 17-15, Biola got the ball back with a kill from freshman setter Justine Shoneveld, then rattled off three-straight points on strong serving by junior Lindsay Dietzen, who had two aces over that stretch, to go up 21-15. Biola would hold onto the lead and cruise to a 25-19 win to tie the match.

However, Concordia came out firing in the third set, opening with a 6-3 lead and stretching it to a 12-8 advantage early on. Biola slowly closed the gap to one at 16-15, but Concordia responded with a 7-2 run to take a commanding 23-16 advantage and cruise to the win. After hitting .233 and .208 in the first two sets respectively, Biola managed to hit just .026, committing eight errors while recording just nine kills overall.

Things didn't get that much better for Biola in the final set. After the teams battled back-and-forth through the first half, Concordia broke an 11-11 tie with a long 12-2 run to go up 23-13. Biola fought off the end of the match with a 7-1 run, but a kill by Ridens finally ended things with Concordia the victor.

Ridens was one of three Concordia players in double-figures in kills, leading the way with 17 kills, two blocks, two aces and three digs. Lefty Brooke Marino recorded 12 kills and three blocks while Stephanie Darnall adding 11 kills and nine digs.

Biola senior Katie Stevens had a match-high 19 digs while Shoneveld recorded a match-high 38 assists.

The road for Biola does not get much easier. On Tuesday (Sept. 15), Biola travels to face No. 1 Fresno Pacific in a GSAC game at 7:00 p.m. in Fresno.