FRESNO, Calif. --- Despite missing two key players to injury, No. 20 Biola gave top-ranked and defending NAIA Champion Fresno Pacific a tough match, though the Sunbirds would ultimately prevail 23-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-12 in a GSAC match Tuesday night in Fresno.

The Eagles, who were battling their second-straight Top Two team, fall to 10-4 on the season and to 1-2 in conference play. Fresno Pacific remains perfect on the season and moves to 13-0 overall and 3-0 in GSAC.

Biola was playing without two of its regular starters, sophomore Kim Russell and Joy Talcott. Russell, who is Biola's leading hitter, was being held out due to a minor injury, while Talcott could miss significant time after suffering a knee injury in the Eagles' previous match.

However, despite the setbacks, Biola still came out firing in the first set and shocked the Sunbirds. The game got off to a bit of an even start with the teams going back-and-forth through the first half. Fresno Pacific broke a 12-12 tie with a short two-point run, but Biola responded in a big way to break the set open. Led by strong serving from sophomore Christian Woodruff, the Eagles went on a seven-point run to take a commanding 19-14 lead.

Biola would keep up the pressure and stretch the run to 11-3, taking a 23-17 lead. The Eagles had set point early on at 24-19 before Fresno scored five-straight to close the gap. But a Sunbird attack error snapped the run and gave the Eagles a shocking 25-23 win.

Fresno Pacific seemed to realize that this wouldn't  be a simple walk-over victory and began playing like the two-time, defending NAIA Champions, blowing out the Eagles in the final three sets.

Freshman outside hitter Nicolette Mather led Biola with 10 kills in the match. Senior Kelsey Christoferson was statistically Biola's best hitter, recording nine kills with just one error in 26 attacks.

Biola returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 19), hosting The Master's College in a GSAC match at 7:00 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium.