Box Score GRAND ISLAND, Neb. --- Biola Volleyball's first road trip of the 2016 season did not have the sunniest of starts as the no. 19 Eagles were tripped up in three sets (25-13, 25-22, 25-17) by the no. 5 Hastings College Broncos.
The Broncos are the host team for the 2016 Bill Marshall Volleyball Classic held in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was their first match of the season and first win of the season. Meanwhile, the loss drops Biola to 4-3 on the year.
After keeping pace with the Broncos through the first 10 points of the first set (5-5), the Eagles simply looked out of place against a Hastings team that looks much improved from a year ago when they were eliminated in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.
The Broncos hit .480 against Biola in the first set and hit over .300 for the match as a whole. Their middle blocker, Logan Drueppel, was the most dangerous weapon on the court as she finished with 11 kills and a handful of blocks.
Hastings racked up nine total blocks as they were able to hold Biola to its lowest hitting percentage of the season (.123) with a sound defensive effort.
"We are young and this is to be expected," said Head Coach
Aaron Seltzer. "We are going to have games where we struggle. Unfortunately, today we just couldn't get out of our own way."
The Eagles committed 19 attack errors, eight service errors and a block error and only found themselves able to keep the second set within relative striking distance.
Karly Dantuma was Biola's most effective attacker. She compiled six kills on 14 attempts and only had one error, but that was not enough to keep Biola away from its first 3-0 loss since the national championship match against No. 1 Texas-Brownsville in 2013.
Fortunately, the team has a chance to get back on its feet quickly. Biola faces Grand View (IA) at 5:00 p.m. Friday. This is part of the same tournament at the Heartland Events Center. Grand View is 1-0 in 2016 with a 3-0 win over No. 1 Columbia (Mo.) earlier today.
Watch that match live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hastings/portal.htm?eventId=304629&streamType=video.
