LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola looked solid and easily won the second and fourth sets but could not pull out the other three, close sets as--for the second time this season--Westmont stunned the Eagles in five in a GSAC match at Chase Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors fought off five match points in the fifth set and pulled out a stunning 25-21, 11-25, 28-26, 10-25, 18-16 victory.
Biola drops to 20-11 on the season and to 7-7 in GSAC play, losing to an unranked team days after knocking off the top-ranked team in the NAIA. The Warriors improve to 9-13 on the season and into a tie with the Eagles at 7-7 in conference play.
The Eagles had no trouble in the second and fourth sets, cruising to easy victories. However, Biola struggled in the other three sets, blowing a 17-8 lead in the third and a 14-11 lead in the fifth.
The Eagles trailed 9-7 in the early going of the fifth, but battled back with a 7-2 run to set up match-point at 14-11 on kills by Rachel Krueger and Sarah McAtee. But Westmont rallied and scored three straight points, tying the set on a big block. Biola got two more chances at match point, but back-to-back blocks followed by an Eagle attack error gave the match to the Warriors.
Christine Douglas had a match-high 17 kills to pace Biola, but was held without a kill in the fifth set. McAtee added 13 kills while freshman middle blocker Amy Weststeyn had 12 kills, 11 blocks, six digs and hit a team-best .360 (12-3-25).
Tessa Martin led the Warriors with 15 kills while Madison Serrano added 13.
Biola got off to a rocky start in the match as Westmont jumped out to a 13-5 lead. The Eagles fought back, though, and eventually tied the match at 17-17. The teams would battle back and forth until the Warriors broke a 20-20 tie with a three-point run, then exchanged points the rest of the way to win the set 25-21.
The second set was a blowout as Biola jumped out to an 18-4 lead and cruised to a 25-11 win. The Eagles had an impressive .520 attack percentage, recording 15 kills with no errors while the Warriors hit -.097.
It looked like Biola would continue to dominate, breaking an early 7-7 tie with a long 10-1 run to take a commanding 17-8 lead. But the Warriors woke up and used a 14-4 run to go on top 22-21. A kill by Weststeyn and an attack error gave Biola a 23-22 lead, but two quick kills gave Westmont set point at 24-23. The teams would go back and forth until the Warriors scored two quick points on kills by Kelli Ching and Serrano to win 28-26.
The Eagles again dominated, this time cruising in the fourth set to a 15-4 lead and closing out the set with a 5-1 run to win 25-10. Again, the Eagles did well, committing just one error and posting a .385 attack percentage while Westmont hit -.103.
The Eagles elected to start the fifth set on the side they cruised to wins in the second and fourth set. It made sense as they reached 15 points in both sets before a changeover would have been required had it been the fifth set. But the Warriors figured out whatever the issues were and actually led the fifth set 8-7 when the teams switched sides.
Biola will need to recover quickly and take as the Eagles play a huge match on Tuesday at No. 17 Point Loma Nazarene at 7:00 p.m. The Sea Lions and Biola could be tied with Westmont in fifth place should PLNU beat The Master's later this evening.
