--- For the first time this season Biola Volleyball has won back-to-back PacWest Conference games. The journey through the new conference has been full of close matches, and Monday night's battle with Chaminade was no different.
The Eagles had to use all five sets for a fifth time this conference season, but found what they needed in the critical fifth set to lock down the match (23-25, 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12).
"Both teams came out pretty flat tonight," said Head Coach
Aaron Seltzer. "It was more so a case of the team that outlasted and found a way to error just a bit less got the win."
In the first set, Biola took a 2-0 lead and then never led again as Chaminade opened the match with a statement. A four-point run right in the middle of the frame helped the visiting Silverswords gain just as large of a buffer as they would need to pull out the win. The Eagles had enough steam to tie the frame at 20, but CUH's Emma Tecklenburg caught fire late in the set to lock it down.
The Eagles won the next two games, but dropped another close one in the fourth to push the match to the brink. Chaminade actually led the fifth set at 6-5, but a CUH error and pair of
Brooke Watts kills got Biola to the side switch with a comfortable 8-6 lead.
That lead grew by one as Watts landed another kill coming out of the break, but then Chaminade's Rachel Reedy stopped the bleeding by finding the floor and keeping the Silverswords within striking distance at 7-10.
From that point on both teams managed some little mini runs, but it was essentially side out volleyball as the sides split points until
Sierra Bauder's ninth kill of the night clinched the 15-12 fifth set win.
"I was proud of them for getting through a sloppy match," said Seltzer. "They had to figure out a way to get a win without playing your best. It's hard to get wins in this conference, so I feel very fortunate we got through that one."
What stood out most about the Eagles' game all night long was how dominant the team was at the net. Biola out-blocked the Silverswords 10-4 and held them without a block all the way into the third set.
Bauder (6) and
Bekah Roth (4) led the blocking effort from the middle.
Neither team did much with their serve on this night as the two sides combined for just nine service aces, but they committed 21 service errors. Biola had nine of those 21 errors, but did not have a single serve go out past the 13-point mark in the third set.
Karly Dantuma led the attack with a season-high 17 kills. It's the first time the junior has been up over 15 since the Concordia-Irvine win. Not only did she have the 17 kills, but she did so while hitting .412, which is the best hitting percentage she's had this season in matches where she's had double-digit kills.
Brooke Watts and
Sabrina Winslow were next on the kills list with 14 and 11, respectively.
Vanessa Garcia and
Brinley Beresford spread the ball around well, allowing four Eagles to have nine kills or more.
Biola won the match despite having eight fewer kills than Chaminade. The difference was the Silverswords hit just .168 and had 18 more attack errors than BU. Biola hit .268.
The win gives Biola it's 10
th of the season and pushes Seltzer's team to 10-5 overall and 4-3 in PacWest competition. The Silverswords fall to 9-7 (4-4 PacWest).
The Eagles finish up their week on the road at Point Loma (6-10, 3-5 PacWest) on Thursday at seven. The Sea Lions upset the Eagles at home a few weeks ago, beating BU in five sets. However, PLNU has lost its last three matches.
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