LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Expect the unexpected. That's what Head Coach Aaron Seltzer instructs us to expect about the 2017 Biola Volleyball season – the Eagles' first as a NCAA Division II member and PacWest Conference member institution.
 
It is all things new for this Biola Volleyball program that has built a legacy as a NAIA powerhouse over the past 20-plus years and now needs to shift gears and settle into a whole new rhythm.
 
"We're excited," said Seltzer. "It's great to be back with all our friends, all the old schools we used to be with. I think we're all looking forward to it. We're excited to have some nice, deep competition."
 
Biola joins a conference with old Golden State Athletic Conference foes Azusa Pacific University, Concordia University Irvine, California Baptist University, Fresno Pacific University and Point Loma Nazarene University.
 
The Eagles bring with them one of their best teams over the past few years — leaning on a strong returning bunch, an impressive class of newcomers and a stacked group of players returning from a missed season in 2016.
 
Tess Van Grouw, Ally Forsberg and Karly Dantuma will serve as the team captains for the new year and are each strong examples of the type of culture Seltzer hopes for his team.
 
"Those three girls do a great job representing what our program is about," said Seltzer. "They love the Lord, they have great heart and they care about people. They pour into other people and understand it's not about them."
 
They are also a talented bunch of players. Last season, Van Grouw set the program record for digs in a single season (612) and earned NAIA All-American honorable mention honors. Dantuma was the Eagles' top hitter, ending the season with a team-high 383 kills.
 
Other notable returners include the team's second-highest hitter, Hannah Van Warmerdam, 2016's standout freshman defensive specialist, Kaitlin O'Brien, and the Eagles' top setter from 2016, Brinley Beresford.
 
Biola brings in four new freshman student-athletes to fill out the roster. Sara Docktor and Bekah Roth are two 6-foot-1-inch middle blockers that will join Forsberg and Sierra Bauder in the middle, giving the Eagles' setters some tantalizing attacking options all around. Sami Hover comes to Biola from Glendale, Arizona and will partner with Van Grouw and O'Brien to lock down the back row for the Eagles as a new DS. Vanessa Garcia rounds out the roster as a second setter for Seltzer to pair with Beresford.
 
"We're excited for our freshmen. We got four solid players," said Seltzer. "We are super excited about them. Then last year we were missing a bunch of players who were hurt or had to redshirt. It seems like we are a lot deeper team than we have been, just because we're getting these girls back."
 
Seltzer is referring to the slew of returning weapons in the form of Christina DenBoer, Sabrina Winslow, Bauder and Brooke Watts. Each either missed a large part of the season due to injury or had to sit out the whole year as a redshirt. DenBoer will likely be the most impactful returning player right away as she's already got all-conference honors under her belt and has the ability to play all around the rotation, which will be helpful in the Eagles' first season playing under NCAA substitution rules.
 
For Seltzer it's less about the firepower he's assembled, but more about the impact the team can have on the lives of one another and also on this new set of opponents. The PacWest is a conference that has far fewer faith-based institutions than the Eagles' old conference.
 
"I think for us one of the biggest things, if not the biggest thing, is our culture," said Seltzer. "We want to have a team that wants to come and play unselfishly. We want the players to realize it's not about them, but it's about who we are in Christ, how hard we are willing to work and how well we care for people around us."
 
Biola's schedule is very uneven in 2017. The team begins the year with an exhibition at home against former GSAC foe Vanguard on Wednesday night, but then only has one more home match between then and Oct. 7. The Eagles play 18 of their first 21 countable matches on the road before returning home Nov. 3 to kick-off a stretch of seven consecutive home matches to end the season.
 
The most notable matches on the calendar will be the team's preseason tournaments (both up in Northern California) and the matchups with old GSAC rivals, specifically Azusa Pacific, Concordia and California Baptist.
 
Biola plays at APU on Sept. 22 in what will be the teams' first head-to-head conference matchup in any sport since the 2011-12 season. The matchup comes to Chase Gym a few weeks later on Oct. 7. The Eagle-Eagle matchup of Concordia-Irvine and BU will also be a matchup you do not want to miss. The first matchup is in Irvine on Sept. 16 (Biola's PacWest conference opener) and the home match falls on Wednesday Nov. 8.
 
"We have a few of the old guard with Azusa Pacific, California Baptist, Concordia, Point Loma. Obviously, we're most looking forward to them, but leaving none out I hear there's a lot of other good schools as well," said Seltzer. "There's a little bit we don't know yet and will find out as we go along. I think we're expecting to go out and compete every single night, knowing that if we don't bring our best it's not going to look pretty."
 
The Eagles' were picked to finish ninth in the conference in the PacWest Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. Biola has not finished any lower than second in its conference since 2011-12. It finished fourth in the GSAC in 2011, which is the last time all of these teams were together in the old conference.
 
Catch the beginning of a new era at home on Wednesday evening as the Eagles host the Vanguard Lions (2-5) at 7:00 p.m. If you cannot make it out for the match, follow the live stream at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/biola/.