Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Christine Douglas had 21 kills and Chelsee Arnitz added 15 kills as No. 4 Biola outlasted No. 12 Westmont in an epic 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 28-30, 17-15 match between the two GSAC rivals on Saturday night at Murchison Gymnasium.

The Eagles survive and improve to 25-3 overall and to 11-1 in conference play. The Warriors fall to 22-8 and to 5-7 in the GSAC.

The match was one for the ages with each set finishing with the two teams within two points of each other. There were incredible runs by both teams and a raucous crowd of 492 made the match seem like a playoff contest.

Douglas led four Biola players with double-figures in kills as freshman Joclyn Kriton added 13 and sophomore Amy Weststeyn contributed 10. Weststeyn also had a team-high six blocks.

Both teams featured incredible defense in the match. Biola had a season-high 106 digs with three players recording at least 20, led by libero Tara Rallis' 26 and freshman Alex Brehaut's 21. Junior setter Gracee Gallarda had a big double-double with 59 assists and 20 digs to go along with six kills, three blocks and an ace.

The Warriors held a blocking clinic, recording 15 blocks in the match and adding 90 digs and 10 aces.

Biola got off to a quick start in the first set, opening up an early 7-4 lead and leading through much of the set. Westmont rallied late with a four-point run to tie the set at 19-19. The teams went back and forth for the next few points until Biola broke a 22-22 tie with a kill by Nicolette Mather followed by a nice setter dump from Gallarda to set up set point. After a kill by the Warriors, Biola got the first-set win on a Westmont error to go up 1-0.

Westmont came out firing in the second set, jumping out to a quick 7-3 lead and building up a 17-9 advantage midway through the set. Biola answered back with a seven-point run to take back momentum and pull within one at 17-16. Eventually the Eagles would tie the set at 18-18 and broke a 21-21 with a three-point run, bringing up set point once again. But Westmont scored two quick points on kills to make it interesting only to see Arnitz wrap things up with a monster kill.

Biola opened the third set with momentum and scored seven of the first eight points of the set. The Warriors rallied again and eventually tied the set at 11-11. The teams battled back and forth down the stretch until a kill by Kirton broke a 23-23 tie and gave Biola match point. But Westmont took advantage of three-straight Biola errors to rally and win the third set 26-24.

That victory ignited Westmont which opened the fourth set on a 13-1 run. Trailing 16-3, Biola came alive, using a 17-6 run to make ti a 22-20 game. The Warriors got a big point on a kill, but the Eagles responded by scoring four-straight points including setting up another match point on an ace by Jaci Schork. But the next serve was short and gave Westmont hope. the teams would exchange points with the Warriors fighting off another match point before scoring two straight later to win 30-28.

The fifth set kept up the theme of the night with the teams going back and forth with short runs. Tied at 13-13 Westmont set up its first match point with a kill by Marie Trudelle. But the Eagles fended off the point as Arnitz sent a shot cross court to tie it at 14-14. Trudelle came through again with a kill to set up another match point, but Arnitz responded with back-to-back kills to give Biola its third-straight match with at least one match point. This time, the Eagles would not allow the opportunity to go by the wayside, playing great defense to keep the rally alive until Douglas slammed down the kill to give Biola the win.

Ciara Turner led Westmont with 15 kills and had nine blocks including one solo. Madison Serrano added 13 kills and 19 digs while Tessa Martin contributed 12 kills and a team-high 22 digs.

Thanks to the solid defense, neither team hit particularly well with Biola posting a .194 attack percentage to Westmont's .171.

The victory was huge for Biola's chances of at least sharing the GSAC Title with top-ranked Concordia. Biola trails Concordia by just one game in the standings with the teams meeting to close out the GSAC season next Saturday in Irvine. Before that, Biola welcomes San Diego Christian to Chase Gymnasium for its final home conference match on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.