COSTA MESA, Calif. --- Senior Tavea Hampton recorded a career-high 20 kills and added five blocks to help Biola to a come-from-behind victory over Vanguard in a GSAC match, winning by scores of 25-22, 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12 on Thursday night in Costa Mesa.

The Eagles snap a two-match losing streak and improve to 23-7 on the season and to 14-3 in GSAC play. The Lions fall to 13-14 and to 5-12 in the conference.

Hampton had an impressive performance in the match, opening with nine kills in 13 swings through the first two sets and finishing with five kills in the decisive fifth set. She would finish with 20 kills and just four errors in 28 total attacks for a .571 attack percentage. 

Sophomore Christine Douglas added 18 kills and two blocks while senior Amy Mosebar and junior Kim Russell each contributed eight kills.

The match opened as a back and forth affair through much of the first set until Vanguard slowly pulled away with a 5-1 run to take an 18-16 lead. The Lions still led 20-17 a bit later before Biola rallied with a quick 4-1 run to tie the score at 21-21. After a timeout, Vanguard got a block to go back on top, only to see the Eagles score four-straight to end the set. Hampton, Mosebar and Douglas each recorded a kill with Mosebar and Douglas combining on a block to give Biola the win.

The second set started much the same way, though Vanguard took control early. With the score knotted at 11-11, the Lions used a 8-2 run to take a commanding 20-13 lead. But the Eagles weren't done and mounted a 9-2 run to tie the score back up again at 22-22. After the teams exchanged points, Vanguard's Jamie Heenan slammed down back-to-back kills to give the home side a win and tie the match at 1-1.

In the third, the teams again battled back and forth with neither able to take a lead of more than four points. Biola held a slim 18-17 lead just past the midway point, but Vanguard started to roll and scored eight of the final 11 points to go up 2-1. The Eagles would hand the Lions five of those eight points with errors including four hitting errors and a serve into the net.

Vanguard continued to roll early in the fourth set as it looked like an upset was brewing. Trailing 13-11, the Lions scored five-straight points to take a 16-13 lead. After the teams exchanged points for a bit, Biola found itself down 22-19 nearing the end of the set. However, a kill by Douglas got a sideout for the Eagles and tough serving by senior Lindsay Dietzen helped Biola scored the final five points and take the set 25-22. 

In the fifth set, the Eagles jumped out to an early 5-3 lead thanks to three early kills by Hampton. But a 6-1 run by Vanguard gave the home side a commanding 9-6 lead. After a timeout, the Eagles got a sideout thanks to a service error, then rattled off three-straight points to go up 10-8. The teams would exchange points until Biola broke an 11-11 tie with a kill by Hampton and an error by Vanguard. After a Biola error, the Eagles closed out the match with back-to-back kills by Hampton and Mosebar to wrap things up.

Vanguard wound up posting a .262 attack percentage, though the Lions were hitting .303 prior to the fifth set. It was just the sixth time a team hit better than .250 against Biola.

Heenan led the Lions with 25 kills and hit. 328 while KaUwila Lavea added 16. 

The match was just another five-set thriller for Biola which has played seven this year, going 5-2 including winning the last five-straight. Vanguard has not has as much success in its eight five-set matches this season, dropping its last five and going 2-6 overall.

The two teams have played a number of thrilling matches over the last seven years including five five-set matches. There has been just two sweeps in the last 14 matches between the two, though Biola is 11-3 over that stretch.

The Eagles return home for their penultimate home match, hosting Westmont College in a GSAC showdown at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at Chase Gymnasium.