RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Biola Volleyball made waves in the PacWest Conference and NCAA Division II landscape by becoming the first team in 2017 to take two sets from No. 5 California Baptist Lancers.
Head Coach Aaron Seltzer's Eagles held their own all night long in Van Dyne Gym and handed the Lancers just their fourth AND fifth set losses of the season. Biola's won set one 25-23. CBU had gone all year without dropping a first set, until tonight. The Lancers had also not lost two sets in a match at all until a 26-24 BU win in set four forced them to five. Unfortunately, the home team had just enough steam to earn a 15-11 win in the fifth to improve to 20-0 this season and 12-0 in PacWest play.
The match was very close to teetering in favor of the Eagles. With one set in hand the visiting team had the vaunted Lancers on their heels with a 19-18 lead in set two. Unfortunately, Head Coach Branden Higa's team rallied to win the final seven points of the second set to avoid what could've led to a Biola win in four.
Biola had a rough go in sets two and three, which helped CBU get back into the driver's seat for the match after some serving and serve-receive problems from Biola. Outside of that though Seltzer's team was matching the Lancers blow for blow throughout the just over two hour match.
At the end of the match CBU had a slight advantage in kills (59-54), blocks (14-11) and service aces (8-5) while BU's 13 service errors allowed them the margin they needed late.
The effort shown to come back and make it a four-point set in the fifth cannot be overstated though. The team was down 8-3 at the side switch and almost immediately got back within two to make the match interesting and make the national championship hopefuls uneasy.
Brinley Beresford was a big part of the Eagles' set five offense (and really the offense throughout the evening). The junior setter ended with a season-high eight kills. She hit .500 and also served up 40 assists.
Karly Dantuma ended up as the team's leading attacker with 12 kills. The attack was distributed all around with six players notching at least seven kills. One of those players was Savannah Hilde, who had a strong return after missing matches with injury and not playing since Sept. 23 at Point Loma. She had seven kills on 21 swings and also added four digs.
Sierra Bauder led the Eagles' blocking effort by being in on seven of the team's 11 stuffs, including two solo blocks. She and Bekah Roth were integral in limiting the damage caused by PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Lauren Hackett in the Eagles' two set wins. Roth was in on five blocks.
The loss is Biola's first in its last seven PacWest outings. The Eagles drop to 14-6 (8-4 PacWest) and fall to a half-game out of second place in the conference.
For the record, our friends from Azusa lost in three sets to the Lancers earlier this year. Both Biola an APU have one home match remaining against CBU. The Eagles and Cougars are the only teams really still within striking distance of Higa's first-place squad.
The Eagles have one more road match left, Saturday at Dixie State (9-11, 7-5 PWC), before finally heading home for their season-ending homestand of eight consecutive home matches. The fun at Chase Gymnasium begins on October 31 at 7:00 p.m. as BU hosts Life Pacific in the National Christian College Athletic Association West Regional Playoff.
Biola will not charge admission for that evening but asks all fans to please bring some canned food with them as Biola and Life Pacific come together to gather goods for distribution by a local church.
