LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola suffered a pair of tough defeats on the final day of the 2011 Biola University/Holiday Inn Summer Slam, losing twice to a pair of NAIA Top 10 teams on Saturday at Chase Gymnasium.
The Eagles (5-3) lost 25-23, 27-25, 15-25, 21-25, 21-19 to No. 10 College of Idaho and ran out of gas in a 26-24, 25-15, 25-18 loss to No. 7 Lewis-Clark State to close out the tournament.
Sarah McAtee 34 total kills in the two matches including a match-high 21 in the five-set loss against COI.
Christine Douglas had 26 and
Nicolette Mather had 19.
In the opener, Biola got off to a rough start as College of Idaho broke a 22-22 tie by scoring three of the final four points to win a hotly-contested first set. In the second set, the Eagles led 17-12 midway through but the Coyotes climbed back in with a quick five-point run to tie the score. From there it went back and forth with the College of Idaho scoring the final two points of the set to win 27-25.
Biola battled back by winning the third set, closing out the game with a 15-5 run to cruise to a 25-15 win. In the fourth, the Eagles trailed 21-20 late in a back-and-forth battle, but scored the final five points to win the set thanks in large part to three kills and a block by
Rachel Buckley.
Things seemed to be going well for Biola in the fifth set as the Eagles went up 9-4 early and held match-point at 14-9. But the Coyotes scored five-straight points to tie the score and set up an epic finish. Biola led 19-18 after a kill by Douglas, but a service error and attack errors gave match point back to the College of Idaho. Torrey Hulsey then wrapped it up with a kill to give the Coyotes the victory.
McAtee had a match-high 21 kills and added 12 digs and two blocks to lead the Eagles. Douglas added 18 kills and seven digs while Mather recorded 14 kills with no errors in 36 attacks (.389 attack percentage).
In the second match, the Eagles and Lewis-Clark State opened with another epic set which featured 15 ties and five lead changes. Neither team held a lead of more than two points throughout. After a service error by the Warriors, Biola held set point at 24-23. But a pair of kills gave the advantage right back to Lewis-Clark State. The Warriors then won the set after a BIola attack error.
The victory seemed to ignite Lewis-Clark State which had battled through mediocre play through much of the tournament. The Warriors jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the second set and didn't look back, hitting .480 and forcing nine Biola attack errors. The story was similar in the third set as LCSC opened on a 5-0 run and did not allow Biola to get closer than three the rest of the way.
McAtee had 13 kills to lead Biola, which hit just .146 in the match and committed 23 attack errors. Biola, which held opponents barely over a .000 attack percentage in two matches on Friday, allowed LCSC to hit .418 and COI to post a .219 attack percentage.
The Eagels return to action on Friday, traveling to the Concordia University Labor Day Festival in Irvine. Biola plays Westminster (UT) at 9:00 am and Carroll (MT) at 1:00 pm in opening day action.
For complete results and stats from the 2011 Biola University/Holiday Inn Summer Slam, visit the tournament page at http://athletics.biola.edu/sports/2011/8/15/2011VBClassic.aspx?id=164.
