SAN DIEGO --- It was a wild match on Tuesday night between No. 11 Biola and No. 17 Point Loma Nazarene including two sets that ended 34-32. However, the Eagles were not on the winning end of either of those as the Sea Lions pulled out a 17-25, 25-22, 34-32, 34-32 win in a key GSAC match at Golden Gymnasium.
The loss drops Biola to 20-12 on the season and fall into a sixth-place tie with Point Loma Nazarene at 7-8 in GSAC play. The Sea Lions are now 15-8 overall.
Freshman middle blocker
Amy Weststeyn had a strong performance for the Eagles, recording a team-highs of 16 kills and seven blocks in the match and adding a .404 attack percentage. Junior right-side hitter
Nicolette Mather added 14 kills and six blocks while junior outside hitter
Christine Douglas recorded 15 kills.
The match went from a relatively normal GSAC contest to a wild see-saw ride beginning in the third set. Point Loma rallied from a 24-22 deficit and tied the set at 24-24. However, neither team could put away a set point and it continued until a block by Alyssa Dwyer and a Biola attack error gave the wild set to the home team.
Even more wild, the fourth set ended up going well past the limit as the Eagles fought back from a 24-20 hole and forced extra points. The set again went back and forth with both teams hold a set point or two before back-to-back kills by Tabitha Henken gave the Sea Lions the match. Henken finished with a match-high 19 kills.
Biola had little trouble taking the first set, breaking a 12-12 tie with an 8-2 run and not looking back. The Eagles posted a .267 attack percentage and committed just five errors while holding Point Loma to a .077 mark and six errors.
The Sea Lions responded in the second set, nearly leading from start to finish. Using a four-point run to break open a close set, Point Loma took an 18-13 just past the midway point. The Sea Lions would lead by as many as seven, but the Eagles rallied back and closed the gap to three at 22-19 on a PLNU error. But Point Loma traded points with Biola the rest of the way and ended up with a 25-22 win.
As the scores of the match would indicate, the stats for both teams were nearly identical. Biola had 62 kills to Point Loma's 61 and the Sea Lions held a slight edge in attack percentage at .142 to .138. Both teams recorded 13 blocks with Biola hold a 109-92 edge in digs. The big difference came in the number of attack errors in the final two sets as the Eagles committed 25 to PLNU's 17.
Needless to say, the final two sets were the longest played by Biola since the NAIA switched to 25-point scoring in 2008. The previous long was 33-31, done twice over the last two year, the last time coming in a three-set win over Vanguard earlier this season.
The Eagles close out the home portion of the 2011 regular-season schedule on Saturday, hosting San Diego Christian College for Senior Night at Chase Gymnasium. The match is set to tip at 7:00 p.m.
