AZUSA, Calif. --- Three Biola players recorded double-figure kills while setter Gracee Gallarda added an impressive double-double to lead the Eagles to a 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23 victory over No. 7 Azusa Pacific University in a GSAC match Tuesday night at the Felix Event Center.

The Eagles, who improve to 11-4 overall and to 4-1 in GSAC play, were led by the season-high 14 kills by junior Kim Russell. Senior Tavea Hampton recorded 13 kills in 22 swings with no errors for an impressive .591 attack percentage. It was the fourth time this season Hampton has reached double-figures in kills without committing an error and the seventh time she has hit .500 or better in a match.

Gallarda posted an impressive 33 assists and 18 digs for the Eagles. Her assist total was the most this season and the most in a four-game set in the 6-2 offense under Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. Gallarda's 18 digs were also the most by a non-libero this season.

Sophomore Christine Douglas added 12 kills and four blocks for Biola.

The Cougars suffered their first home loss of the season and fall to 15-2 overall and to 3-2 in conference action. Azusa was led by a match-high 17 kills from right-side hitter Whittnay Radcliffe.

Biola had a real chance to dominate the match as APU was without one of its top outside hitters due to injury. But instead, as rivalry games usually do, the match was a nail-biter from start to finish.

In the first set, Biola opened strong, slowly pulling away to a 13-8 lead thanks in large part to recording eight kills in its first 10 swings. Douglas had four of those kills in the early going. The Cougars came out of the timeout and rattled off an 8-2 run to tie the score at 15-15 as Biola committed three-straight errors out of the break.

The Eagles went back on top at 18-16, but Azusa scored four-straight points to go up 20-18. The Cougars still led 21-19 when Biola caught fire, scoring six of the final eight points to take the first set. Sophomore Rachel Buckley had a solo block and a kill to key the rally while Russell closed out the set with a big kill.

In the second, Biola kept the momentum going, jumping out to a 7-2 lead early on as back-to-back aces by Christian Woodruff forced APU to take an early timeout. The Cougars would pull within one at 12-11, but Biola continued to pull away and opened up a 23-18 lead before APU narrowed the gap near the end.

The third set started like the others with Biola opening up a big lead, this time at 10-4. But again, APU fought back and eventually would go up by two at 18-16 as the Eagles committed error after error. Biola took back the lead a bit later and held a 22-20 advantage looking for the sweep. But it was not to be as the Cougars scored five of the final six points including two straight kills with the score tied at 23-23, to win the third.

In the fourth set, Douglas and Radcliffe—the power-hitters for the two sides—became the focal point of the match. Douglas started out with three kills to give Biola an slim advantage early. The two teams exchanged three to four point runs through next little bit. The Eagles would break a 14-14 tie with a quick five-point run started by back-to-back blocks on Radcliffe by Douglas and Buckley. Douglas would cap the run with a kill to give Biola a commanding 19-14 lead.

With the Eagles leading 21-15, Azusa mounted one final charge and pulled within two with a quick four-point run. A bit later, Biola would have set point at 24-20 on a service error by the Cougars, only to see back-to-back errors cut the lead to one at 24-23. But Hampton closed out the game with a quick kill as the Eagles managed to escape Azusa with the four-set victory.

The victory was the third for the Eagles in the last four matches against the Cougars at the Felix Event Center.

Russell's 14 kills makes her the fourth different Biola player to lead the team in that category over the last four matches.

The victory moves the Eagles into third place in the conference, just one game behind No. 1 Frenso Pacific and No. 2 California Baptist. CBU is Biola's next opponent as the Eagles host the Lancers on Saturday (Sept. 25) at 7:00 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium.