AZUSA, Calif. --- For the second-straight match, Biola was unable to come away from a fifth-set with a win over an NAIA Top 10 team, falling 10-25, 27-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-10 to No. 8 Azusa Pacific University in a GSAC clash on Tuesday night at the Felix Event Center in Azusa.
The Eagles drop to 15-6 on the season, suffering their second-straight, five-set loss and third on the year. Biola, which is ranked No. 12 in the NAIA National Ratings, falls to 3-2 in GSAC play while the Cougars improve to 16-4 and are also 3-2 in the conference.
Biola seemed to dominate in every aspect of the game, except for the final score. The Eagles outhit the Cougars .234 to .152 and recorded 17 blocks to APU's seven. But despite winning two sets handily, Biola could not win the two close sets and the Cougars used the momentum to take the fifth with relative ease.
The match was one of the most well-rounded by the Eagles on the season with five players recording double-digit kills. Freshman Amy Weststeyn had 12 kills and added seven blocks to pace Biola with Christine Douglas, Sarah McAtee and Nicolette Mather each adding 11.
Mather had her best match of the season, recording 11 kills on 19 swings with no errors for a .579 attack percentage, adding six blocks.
However, Marguerite Hanna led the match with 18 kills and Jackie Landers added 16 for the Cougars.
Biola came out firing and completely dominated the first set. After Azusa Pacific took an early 5-3 lead, the Eagles rattled off an 8-0 run to take a commanding 11-5 lead. Douglas had a pair of solo blocks and Mather added two kills over that stretch. After exchanging a few points, Biola went on another eight-point run to go up 21-7 and didn't look back.
In the second set, things were a lot closer throughout. Neither team was able to lead by more than three points through the entire set until the Eagles used a four-point run to go up 21-18. Azusa Pacific responded with a four-point run of its own to tie the game at 22-22 to tie the game on back-to-back errors by the Eagles. A few points later, the Cougars held their first game point at 24-23. Biola would fight off a that point and one other before an attack error handed the set to APU, 27-25.
The third set started out a lot like the second with Azusa Pacific opening up a 5-2 lead only to see Biola rattle off a 7-0 run to go up 9-5. After a timeout, the Cougars responded with four-straight points to tie the set and start a bit of a see-saw battle. Biola extended the lead to four at 17-13 on a kill by Chelsee Arnitz and ace by Gracee Gallarda. The Cougars would respond again, though and pull to within one at 20-19. But a huge block by Douglas and Buckley would start a five-point run to end the set and give Biola a 2-1 lead.
The seesaw battle continued into the fourth with Azusa Pacific opening with a 6-3 lead and Biola answering with a 7-2 run to go up 10-8.The teams traded points and leads until the Cougars slowly pulled away late, taking a 24-21 lead on a kill by Christy Cain. But the Eagles fought off three more set points with kills by McAtee, Weststeyn and a block by Weststeyn and Douglas to tie the set at 24-24. Azusa Pacific wouldn't panic, though, and Cain got another kill on the next point and Alkazin slammed home the set winner to force a fifth set.
Azusa roared to life in the fifth set and--as had been the norm through much of the match--jumped out to an early 5-3 lead. Biola really could not recover, keeping it within two for a few more points until the Cougars went on a 6-3 run to take a 14-8 lead and would eventually win 15-10.
The Eagles will try to right the ship on Saturday, traveling to Santa Barbara to face Westmont College in a GSAC showdown at 7:00 p.m. ar Murchison Gymnasium.
