LA MIRADA, Calif. --- In a match delayed by numerous factors, Biola picked up its first win of the season in dominating fashion, cruising to a 7-2 GSAC victory over Hope International University at the BIola Tennis Center on Tuesday evening.
The Eagles improve to 1-19 on the season and to 1-12 in conference play while dropping the Royals to 1-21 overall and 1-14 in GSAC play.
The match seemed to take a while to get started as both Hope squads arrived late, delaying the start of the match. The men's match then went longer than expected and pushed the start of the women's match back quite a bit. As a result, some singles matches were played early with the other matches starting as courts came open. However, when the dust settled, Biola played its best all-around match of the season and took home a solid victory.
In doubles play, Biola won at No. 3 by default as the Royals were short-handed. The Eagles then got a win at No. 1 as
Kelly Thompson and
Shamariah De Rojas won 8-4. It was nearly a clean-sweep at doubles, as Biola's No. 2 team rallied from a 7-4 deficit to tie the match at 8-8. However, Hope's team held on to win the tiebreaker and the match, 9-8.
In singles, one of the matches that was rushed to begin was at No. 1 where
Mariah Pace was trying to complete her match before an evening class began and she had to retire from the match to make it to the important class. Biola picked up the remaining singles matches to cruise to the win.
Alisha Hansen won easily at No. 5 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 victory while
Danielle Calbeck earned a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 4. Calbeck trailed 1-4 and rallied back to win her set 6-4. Thompson cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 with the Eagles getting a hard-fought victory at No. 3 from De Rojas in a tiebreaker. After winning 6-3 in the first set, De Rojas lost 7-5 in the second. However, she fought back from a 6-3 hole in the third to score seven-straight points and win 10-6.
Biola also got a victory at No. 6 singles by default.
The Eagles return to action on Friday, hosting Azusa Pacific University in a GSAC match at 12:00 p.m.
