LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola's women's tennis team opened the 2011 campaign with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Cal Tech in a non-conference match at the Biola Tennis Center on Saturday.

The Eagles (1-0) cruised to a quick 2-0 lead in the match after recording 8-0 and 8-1 wins in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively. The Beavers (0-2) managed to record a point with a tight 8-6 victory at No. 1 doubles.

In the singles competition, Biola picked up another win as Mariah Pace breezed to a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles to make it a 3-1 lead for the Eagles. But three of the next four singles matches went to Cal Tech with Jessice Thong picking up the lone Biola win with a 6-0, 7-5 victory at No. 5 singles.

With the score tied 4-4, the match came down to No. 6 singles where Biola's Alisha Hansen was facing Cal Tech's Michelle Tang. Hansen won the first set 6-2, but dropped the second 7-6 to force a decisive third-set tiebreaker. In that tiebreaker, Hansen broke Tang twice and pulled out a 6-3 victory to give Biola the match.

The Eagles return to action on Friday (Feb. 11) traveling to Riverside to face the University of La Verne in a 2:00 p.m. match.