Box Score GRAND ISLAND, Neb. --- It was a match eight months in the making and it sure did not disappoint. No. 19 Biola Volleyball earned its first five-set victory of the 2016 season as it upset No. 1 Columbia (25-16, 25-20, 16-25, 24-26, 15-11) in a rematch of last year's five-set national quarterfinal.
 
"It was a good win. A good way to end the trip for sure," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "They [Columbia] played us a lot better than they looked yesterday. Our middles were phenomenal and really helped us out in this one."
 
Biola seemed to be on its way to an easy three-set win over the defending national champions after it won the first two sets and worked an early advantage in the third. However, you can never count a good team out, Columbia ended up running away with the third set and earning a two-point win in the fourth to push Biola to its second five-set match in as many days.
 
The Eagles' 15-11 set five victory became the team's first fifth set win in three chances in 2016 and helped BU salvage a win at the Bill Marshall Volleyball Classic.
 
It was a heart-pounding fifth frame that was within one point as late as 12-11. Late in the set, two Columbia service errors and a Biola ace helped BU extend the lead just enough to wrap it up and end this road trip on a high note. The final point of the match was secured by a Columbia setting error, which caused the Biola bench to erupt in celebration and erased some of the memory of last year's postseason loss.
 
Outside of the fifth set, the rest of the match was just as back-and–forth as the two NAIA heavyweights duked it out in some very interesting sets of volleyball.
 
After some trading of points early in the first set, the Eagles' front row became dominant and started to shut down the Cougars' attack with some great play at the net.
 
Biola racked up three blocks to take the Cougars' attack efficiency from over .500 down into the mid-.100s as the Eagles worked their way to a 25-16 set one win.  The key point of the set was when BU managed five consecutive points to take it from 10-11 to 15-11.
 
Biola's setters and attackers worked together to put out Biola's best offensive set of the year in this first set. The Eagles racked up 14 kills on .565 hitting. Brinley Beresford and Tori Moons split time setting up the attackers and Hannah van Warmerdam and Sierra Bauder racked up a team-high four kills each.
 
Set two was a whole lot tighter than the first, and no real resolution was apparent until the final five minutes of play when Biola turned a 20-19 tug-of-war battle into a cool 25-20 set victory.
 
Tess Van Grouw's leadership in the back row is what helped turn that set around a carry the Eagles to victory. The junior captain was passing the ball crisply and making some incredible digs look like a piece of cake as she continued her awesome weekend of volleyball.

"Tess had another fantastic weekend," said Seltzer. "She was great through all out matches and continues to do well for us. Which is exactly what we expect from her."
 
Service errors also began to haunt the Cougars in set number two as their match total ballooned up to eight and Biola took full advantage of it.
 
Also in set two, Ally Forsberg began to make her presence felt in a big way and was a key contributor to the Eagles' ability to go up 2-0. Through the second set the junior middle blocker had six kills on eight swings and was hitting .750.
 
The Eagles' middles were on point from start to finish in this one and really made the difference in Biola's ability to escape with the win. Forsberg and Bauder had 15 kills eachand hit .480 and .565, respectively. Forsberg made a big difference at the net with two solo blocks and five other block assists.
 
The third set was a bit off the pace of what the Eagles were able to accomplish in the first two sets. Columbia rode a massive mid-set run to a 24-10 lead as Biola was struggling to get anything going offensively (6 kills, 6 errors).
 
There was one bright spot in that third set though, and that was that the Eagles won six of the final seven points as they made it a respectable 25-16 loss.
 
That momentum carried the Eagles into a bitterly contested fourth set that sure felt a whole lot like the fifth set of last year's quarterfinal. The end result was unfortunately similar to that fifth set as Columbia won it by two points, 26-24.
 
The Eagles had their lowest attacking percentage of the match in that fourth set loss. BU compiled 13 kills (one more than CC), but had 10 errors to hit just .091.
 
After the surprising two set losses, all was rectified as BU was able to avoid disappointment on this sunny Saturday morning in Grand Island with the bounce-back 15-11 win in set five. Biola's ability to limit mental mistakes helped key the late victory. Columbia suffered from 15 service errors and six blocking errors, while BU had just six combined errors in those categories.
 
Biola improves to 5-4 on the season, while the Cougars fall to 0-2. The Eagles head back to California this afternoon and are in action next at Hope International's Labor Day tournament next Friday and Saturday.