Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Facing its fifth ranked opponent in a row, No. 19 Biola Volleyball rode a quick start to its fourth victory of the season as it dismissed No. 18 Southern Oregon in four sets (25-14, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23).
 
It was really a tale of two matches as BU defended the SOU attack extremely well through the first two sets and then had to battle for each and every point through the final two sets in order to ultimately pull out the match win.
 
"I am happy with this win," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "I think we got really fortunate with they way they played the first two sets. They came out flat and we did what we needed to do to take advantage of it."
 
Biola built massive 9-2 leads in both of the first two sets and ended up cashing in both times. The Southern Oregon attackers were misfiring all over Chase Gym in the early going of this one, which opened a window for BU. The Raiders hit -.125 in a dismal first set, and then they cut the number of attack errors in half in set two, but could not defend any of the Eagles' attacks as Biola notched 15 of its 54 kills in the 25-21 win.
 
"The last two games showed what the whole match should have been like," said Seltzer.
 
What that was turned out to be a closely contested battle with SOU's supremely talented outside hitters firing blasts at Biola's back row with much more consistency. Seltzer mentioned the effort and execution by Tess Van Grouw, Kaitlin O'Brien and Anna Houser was critical to Biola withstanding the late-match attack.
 
"We did some really good things throughout the match, but our passing really stood out to me. They did fantastic for us."
 
In their best set of the match the Raiders took over the lead a 2-1 in set three and never again relinquished control as they worked a 25-20 win to avoid a three-set sweep. Biola won six of the final 10 points, but it was not enough to overcome the early lead built by the Raiders, which was built thanks in large part to an 80 percent sideout percentage.
 
Set four was anyone's game as the teams played pretty close to sideout volleyball throughout the set. The two-point swing went in Biola's favor as the Eagles stifled SOU's first serve and had a four percent advantage in siding out.
 
Hannah Van Warmerdam was key to Biola's set four victory as she recorded five of her 15 kills in the match's final frame. She opened the set with a kill and Karly Dantuma sealed it shut by accounting for three of the Eagles' final five points in the match.
 
Van Warmerdam (15), Dantuma (12), Sierra Bauder (12) and Brooke Watts (10) led the Eagles' attack and reached double-digit kills.
 
The block was another weapon used with regularity by Biola in this one. BU led the match with nine blocks, all coming in the first set, which was a great output against a team ranked No. 2 in the NAIA in blocks.
 
Biola improves to 4-2 with the victory, while Southern Oregon falls to 3-3. The Eagles head to Nebraska for a Friday-Saturday tournament run by Hastings College. BU fill face No. 5 Hastings, RV Grand View and No. 1 Columbia at this tournament.