LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was another heartbreaking end to an overall great night on Saturday at Biola lost in five sets (25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 17-25, 14-16) to Point Loma in their first meeting as PacWest Conference members. The Eagles went up two sets to none, but the Sea Lions played nearly perfect volleyball over the final three frames to earn the win.
 
It was a tight match in four of the five games, but Point Loma earned a runaway win in the fourth that really gave them the confidence boost needed to steal the match in the fifth set.
 
"It was a tough match. Every night is a battle," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "Point Loma played very well. They were well prepared and served extremely tough. That took us out of everything we like to do."
 
Biola escaped with 25-23 wins in the first two sets, taking advantage of PLNU hitting the ball into the block and out of the court relatively frequently. The Eagles earned eight blocks in the first two sets, but then could only stuff the Sea Lions five more times over the remaining three games.
 
Sierra Bauder was in on the block all night long. The second-year Eagle middle was in on seven of the team's 13 blocks. She had a phenomenal all-around evening and did her part to try to earn a Biola win. Bauder ended with a team-high 19 kills and hit .471, which is a new season-best.
 
"Sierra did a great job keeping us in the match. It was one of her better performances," said Seltzer.
 
Biola had a chance to clinch the match in three, which felt like it would be the appropriate outcome late in the third set, as to that point BU had been the much cleaner team. The Eagles had trailed for most of the set, but staked an 18-17 lead before losing four of the next five points and ultimately dropping the frame 26-24.
 
"We still need to figure out how to play these back-to-back matches," said Seltzer. "We played so well last night, and today was more error-prone. Point Loma had a lot to do with that."
 
Point Loma played nearly error-free over the final two sets to clinch the match in five. What was most impressive about the visiting team's effort was their sideout ability in the final two frames. They got out immediately 72 percent of the time in the fourth and an incredible 80 percent in the fifth.
 
Four Sea Lions had double-digit kills and their setter had 51 assists and just one error as the team hit .176 for the match.
 
Brooke Watts saw her first action since Sept. 9 and had a great match. She had five kills, an assist, three digs and a block in a versatile performance off the bench.
"Brooke did a great job. I was not sure she'd be able to play tonight, but she came in and did well," said Seltzer.
 
Brinley Beresford set a new career-high with eight kills and had excellent decision making in her attack decisions all night as she battled with PLNU's setter who also attacked frequently. Beresford hit .636 as she got those eight kills in 11 swings.
 
Freshman middle Bekah Roth also played well with eight kills on a .319 clip. She also was a big part of the early blocking success of BU, getting six blocks.
 
Unfortunately for the Eagles the service area was not as kind to them as usual. The Eagles had five aces (four from Kaitlin O'Brien), but also added 10 service errors. Point Loma had a positive differential of 7-6 in that category.
 
The Eagles fall to 7-4 (1-2 PacWest) following the loss. Point Loma's upset win makes them 5-7 (2-2 PacWest). Biola hits the road, well the air actually, as they head out on their Hawai'i trip next week. They play at Hawai'i Hilo on Friday and Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday. Both matches are at 10:00 p.m. pacific time.