SAN DIEGO --- Biola fought back from a two-set deficit and held a late lead in the fifth set, but couldn't pull out the victory, falling 25-17, 29-27, 20-25, 21-25, 15-13 to No. 19 Point Loma Nazarene in its regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at Golden Gymnasium.

The Eagles wrap up the regular season at 25-8 and finish in a second-place tie in the GSAC with California Baptist at 16-4. The Sea Lions improve to 17-12 on the season and 11-9 in conference play.

Biola received a season-high 31 kills from sophomore outside hitter Christine Douglas, just two shy of the school record in a five-set match. She posted a .419 attack percentage (31-5-62) and added two blocks, four digs and three assists.

Point Loma's All-American Tabitha Henken recorded a match-high 33 kills to pace the Sea Lions.

The Sea Lions took control of the first set around the half way point after a back-and-forth opening. Leading 8-6, Point Loma rattled off a 10-2 run to go on top 18-8. PLNU stretched the lead to 12 at 23-11 before the Eagles put together a late 6-1 rally to make the final score a more respectable 25-17.

The second set saw Point Loma again jump out to an early lead at 8-4 only to see Biola tie things up at 9-9 a few points later. The score remained close until the Eagles broke a 17-17 tie with a three-point run to force a PLNU timeout at 20-17. Out of the timeout, the Sea Lions went on a big run 5-1 run to go up 22-21. The teams then went back and forth until the Sea Lions got a kill and block to win 29-27.

In the third, it was the Eagles' turn to go on top early, jumping out to a 10-4 lead. Point Loma closed the gap to three on a pair of occasions, but could get no closer as the Biola held on for a 25-20 win. The Eagles would record a .526 attack percentage in the set, committing just one error after 13 combined in the previous two sets.

Biola opened the fourth set with another run, going up 9-3 in the early going. However, the Sea Lions came back with a run of their own to pull within one at 9-8. The Eagles stretched the lead back up to four at 15-11 and the teams exchanged points until PLNU cut it to one at 21-20 with a short 4-1 run. But that would be as close as they would get as the Eagles scored four of the final five points to tie the set.

In the fifth, the Sea Lions went up 5-2 early only to see Biola tie the score at 6-6. Point Loma held a slight 8-7 edge at the change over and stretched it to 10-8 shortly thereafter. But the Eagles answered right back with a 5-1 run--four of the points coming on kills by Douglas--to take a 13-11 lead. The Sea Lions weren't finished, though and answered back by scoring the final four points to take the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.

While just about all of the numbers were identical for the two teams, the biggest plus for the Sea Lions came at the net where they out-blocked Biola 13-6. Freshman middle blocker Alyssa Dwyer had 15 kills with 10 blocks.

Biola middle blocker Tavea Hampton added 14 kills for the Eagles while right-side hitter Nicolette Mather contributed 11.

Biola has a well-deserved break before returning to action at the 2010 NAIA National Championships Nov. 30 - Dec. 4. The Eagles will hear about schedule and pairings once the Opening Round matches are completed on Nov. 20. Biola will be making its fourth-straight appearance in the NAIA Tournament.