BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Senior
Kelsey Christoferson recorded a season-high 18 kills and added three blocks to lead Biola to a 21-25, 25-8, 26-24, 25-22 victory over Westmont College in a GSAC match on Tuesday night at Chase Gymnasium.
The Eagles, who moved up one spot in the NAIA National Poll to No. 17, improve to 12-6 with the victory and to 3-4 in GSAC play. The Warriors, who also moved up one spot to No. 24 in the latest poll, fall to 11-6 and 2-5 in the conference.
Christoferson had an incredible match, turning it on late with 13 of her 18 kills coming in the pivotal final two sets. At one point, the senior had 16 kills with no errors in 22 swings, but settled for 18 kills in 31 attacks, committing three errors for a hitting percentage of .484. She also added three blocks including one solo and three digs.
Junior middle blocker
Tavea Hampton added 16 kills on just three errors for a .419 attack percentage, also contributing five blocks to the cause. Her kill total was her highest this season. Freshman outside hitter
Nicolette Mather recorded 12 kills for the Eagles.
Biola got off to a slow start, falling behind 8-4 early on. Things kepy getting worse for the Eagles as Westmont continued its attack and stretched the lead to 18-8 at one point. Biola slowly crawled back into the match, making things interesting with an 8-3 run which made it 21-16. After a timeout the Warriors scored a pair and held off a late run to win 25-21.
The Eagles kept the momentum going from late in the first set, and flat out crushed the Warriors in the second. Biola hit a whopping .444 while holding Westmont without a real point and a -.179 attack percentage. The set was not that big of a blowout until midway through the set. The Eagles held a 13-7 lead when things really fell apart for the Warriors. After a service error gave the ball back to Biola, the Eagles closed out the set with an impressive 13-1 run. Taking into consideration the late run at the end of the first set, Biola at one point outscored the Warriors 33-12.
Westmont came roaring back, though, in the third set and gave Biola a tough battle. The teams went back and forth throughout the set until the Warriors broke a 13-13 tie with a short run to go up 15-13. Westmont would extend that lead to as many as four late in the set as a Biola error made it 23-19 in favor of the visitors. But Biola answered back with four-straight points thanks in large part to senior
Meghan Cunningham, who had a kill and a block over the stretch which tied it at 23-23.
The Warriors ended the run with a kill from Katelyn Lowry, but the Eagles fought off set-point with a kill from Hampton which again tied the score at 24-24. A strong serve by senior libero
Katie Stevens forced an attack error by the Warriors and set point to Biola, Christoferson ended it with her seventh kill of the set.
The fourth set started out with the teams going back and forth again early with the Eagles behind 6-4 at one point. But Biola used a 9-2 run to break the set open, going up 13-8 before a Westmont timeout. The Eagles still led 19-12 later in the set when the Warriors mounted one final charge, pulling to within one point with an 8-2 run which made it 21-20, Biola. The two teams then exchanged two-point runs and Westmont had serve trailing 23-22. However an attack error by the Warriors gave the Eagles match point and a block by Hampton and Mather ended the match with Biola on top.
Beth Widicus and Stephanie Dunn each recorded 11 kills while Alison Sharp added 10 for the Warriors.
Stevens recorded a match-high 24 digs--the most for her in a four-set match this season--to eclipse the 1,700-dig mark for her career. Stevens, who already holds the career digs school record, now has 1,720 in her four seasons with the Eagles.
Biola returns to action on Thursday (Oct. 1), traveling to Costa Mesa for a matchup with No. 25 Vanguard University at 7:00 p.m. The Lions, who recently knocked off No. 3 California Baptist University at home, moved into the NAIA Top 25 this week, making their first appearance of the season.
