Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Back and better than ever would be a good way to describe the effort of Biola Volleyball on Saturday night as it worked a quick 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-18) sweep of Golden State Athletic Conference foe Hope International.
 
The Eagles earned their 40^th all-time victory over the Royals with the sweet sweep and helped erase thoughts of having to play five sets against HIU in Fullerton earlier this season.
 
It was Head Coach Aaron Seltzer's first game back after a short time away and he liked what he saw out of his team.
 
"I thought there was great energy. It was one of our best start-to-finish matches of the year," said Seltzer.
 
The team put its best foot forward early in the match to set a tone that would carry throughout the night. The Eagles raced out to an early 6-1 lead and did not allow the visiting Royals to record more than three points in a row at any time during the set.
 
Karly Dantuma was the star of the first set as she turned some great sets into payday with some fantastic attacking efforts. The sophomore right side had seven kills on nine swings and recorded zero errors to hit .778.
 
"Our setters had great tempo and moved the ball around really well throughout the night," said Seltzer.
 
That ball movement helped the Eagles get more and more effective from different areas on the floor as the night rolled on.  Following her dominant first set Dantuma would only be responsible for three more kills in sets two and three as more and more of her teammates highlighted their skills.
 
Brooke Watts was one such teammate. The freshman looked fantastic in her second match back from injury as she hit .320 with 10 kills (tied for the team lead) and was in on two of the Eagles' seven blocks.
 
Biola won the blocking battle in a big way (7-2), which is indicative of the excellent job Brinley Beresford (15 assists) and Tori Moons (19 assists) did of distributing the ball.
 
"I think we served and blocked well and also our outsides were great," said Seltzer. "It's nice to have Brooke back. She's a really good blocker, which helps us out a lot."
 
The second set was the Eagles' largest margin of victory on the night, which was thanks to the well-oiled attack, but also the fantastic work of the team's back row. Tess Van Grouw and crew were all over the floor to pick up on the HIU attack, which resulted in a .036 attack percentage for the Royals in a really thin attack effort.
 
Van Grouw (12) and Kaitlin O'Brien (10) were great in receiving the Royals' attack all night long, which helped them break double-digit digs in just three sets.
 
The Eagles also put together a nine-point run in the middle of the second set, which helped inflate the margin of victory a little bit. Beresford was the server for that stretch and had two service aces to help the effort.
 
Biola wrapped things up with a convincing win in the third set and notched its fourth GSAC victory in a row. The Eagles improve to 17-8 (8-2 GSAC), while HIU falls to 10-11 (4-6 GSAC).
 
The Eagles head back out on the road for the next two matches as they make their annual trip up to Northern California to face William Jessup and Menlo College on Friday and Saturday.