BELMONT, Calif. --- Head Coach Aaron Seltzer has never had his team shy away from top competition and nothing seems to have changed at the beginning of the Eagles' NCAA Division II tenure. Biola's first match was a grueling back-and-forth five-set battle with a west region powerhouse, Sonoma State. Ultimately, the Eagles reigned supreme with a 15-12 victory in the fifth set and get off to a 1-0 start to the season.
 
The Seawolves are a team that has won at least 22 matches and qualified for the NCAA West Regional Tournament in five of the last six seasons. It was the first meeting between the two sides since 1985 and just the third all-time. Biola now leads the all-time series 2-1.
 
"Sonoma State is super well coached and really, really good defensively," said Seltzer. "They did a lot of really good things and that made it difficult, but the girls stayed tight and hung in there at the end."
 
The match was incredibly tight throughout, with each of the first three sets being decided by the minimum of two points. The Eagles claimed set one, SSU took the next two and then BU dug in to pull out the win with impressive performances in the final two sets.
 
It was good volleyball virtually from start to finish on Friday morning as both teams, when in system, were efficient and effective on the attack. For the match Biola hit .231 with at least 15 kills in three of the five sets and Sonoma State went at a .194 clip with at least 12 kills in three of the five sets.
 
"There was a lot of back and forth in that match, which made it fun — a good match," said Seltzer.
 
Biola's most challenging set came in the second when it put up just nine kills to eight errors, while SSU had the hardest time in set four with nine kills to seven errors.
 
The timing for the fourth set lull was exactly what Biola needed to re-establish its position in the match and turn things around. The Eagles had late leads slip away in both the second and third sets, but in set four they were the ones coming back. Biola won 15 of the final 22 rallies to lock down a decisive 25-20 win and force a fifth set.
 
This was the first five set match for either team this season. It was, of course, Biola's first match, but Sonoma State only went three in a win yesterday.
 
The Eagles soared out to a 7-2 start to the fifth to quickly sooth any nerves. The early dominance was thanks in large part to some stellar contributions from Christina DenBoer and Bekah Roth. Roth had a kill and service ace and DenBoer had two kills in those early rallies.
 
After the teams switched sides the match began to tighten just a little bit as the Seawolves started to take advantage of a few mistakes and pulled within two at 10-8.
 
Eventually the Eagles earned a 14-10 advantage and clinched the match on their third chance at match point when a SSU attacker hit the ball errant.
 
The win continues Biola's undefeated start to the 2017 athletic season. Women's Soccer also has a win and the men worked a draw in their first match.
 
The standout attackers for Biola in this match were DenBoer (21 kills, 15 digs), Sierra Bauder (11 kills, 10 blocks) and Bekah Roth (12 kills, .579 %). Biola ended the match with 67 kills, which is more than all but two matches from 2016 and was 11 more than their opponents in this one.
 
"Having Christina and Sierra's presence back on the court changes the dynamic of our team," said Seltzer. "Christina will only get better as the season goes on, but she played very well at the end of that match, which was good. Sierra was a rock star all match, we could not set her enough. It helped us a ton. They are the kind of people that make everyone around them better."
 
Biola was also superior in most of the other measurables also, out-acing the Seawolves 8-3, out-digging SSU 79-69 and out-blocking Sonoma 13-10.
 
Tess Van Grouw ended up with 22 digs in a strong first showing. Kaitlin O'Brien also shone bright with 11 digs and a team-high three aces.
 
Biola went all of the 2016 season without a single player recording a double double. In today's match there were two with DenBoer and Bauder both rising to the occasion.
 
Today's contest was Biola's second five-set match in three days, since they went five with Vanguard in an exhibition a few days ago. Seltzer credits the team's athletic trainer Linda Ruggles and Strength & Conditioning coach Frank Ramirez for the student-athlete's readiness to compete.
 
Biola continues play at the Route 92 Volleyball tournament tonight at 4:30 p.m. The Eagles are slated to face San Francisco State (1-0) for the first of two meetings over the next two weeks. Follow the match live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ndnu/index.htm.