Box Score IRVINE, Calif. --- Biola's sluggish start to the 2014 season continued on Friday night when the No. 8 Eagles dropped a five-set (25-21, 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 16-18) match to unranked Westminster (UT).
 
The loss came just mere hours after the Eagles defeated an opponent ranked inside the top-25; their third victory over ranked opponent this season. It's been a little more rare for Westminster to defeat ranked opponents. The Griffins earned their first victory over a team in the top-10 since 2010.
 
The match began just as expected, with Biola taking the first set off the strength of an unstoppable onslaught of attacking. The Eagles nailed 17 kills and mistimed just one of their 36 attacks on their way to taking the 1-0 advantage. Keeping consistent with the rest of the weekend, the team showed flashes of disappointment, by combining for five service errors in the first frame.
 
The second set is one of three in the match that saw the Griffins attack at a better rate than Biola. Both teams hit sub-.250 in a less-than-impressive set. The Eagles had another four service errors and fell subject to the solid setting of Westminster's Taylor Gustafson, who had 11 assists in that set.
 
Both teams split the next two sets as Westminster forced and improbable fifth set. Biola made quick work of the Griffins in the third, showing the true power of a top-10 team, but then was not quite able to keep up with the variety of attackers featured by Westminster in a close fourth set.
 
For the second time this year, Biola was slated to participate in a fifth set. The last time the Eagles played to five, No. 15 Viterbo ran straight through them and handed Biola its first loss of the year.

The Griffins took a quick 6-4 advantage and seemed to be maintaining the momentum they built in the previous set, but a four-point streak with Amy Weststeyn at the serve helped Biola regain the advantage.

At the eight-point mark, the two teams swapped sides of the court, and the Griffins began to chip away at the lead yet again. Some back-and-forth eventually saw Biola get a match point at 14-12, which was quickly reversed to a 15-14 WC advantage.
 
Amy Weststeyn notched one of her team-leading 22 kills to knot the game at 15 and return serve to the Eagles. The teams traded points again before two Biola attack errors sealed the come-from-behind victory for the underdog Griffins.
 
Biola led the match in just about every statistical category, but was way behind in serve percentage. They committed 13 errors, against just eight service aces in this game, which is almost the polar opposite of Westminster's 14 aces and six service errors.
 
Biola falls to 5-2 on the season and helps Westminster break over .500 at 4-3. Great Falls (MO) and Olivet Nazarene (IL) better look out in their matches with Biola tomorrow, because the Eagles are sure to come out swinging.