LA MIRADA, Calif. --- When the season began, this week's trip to Hawaii certainly would not have been identified as the most important week of the season, considering Biola's scheduled opponents had a combined 22-38 record in conference play in 2017. However, 2018 is a completely different story as now two of the three opponents happen to be in the top-5 in the conference and within striking distance of passing BU in the standings. Read on to learn about the matchups and implications.

LAST WEEK: W vs Azusa Pacific, 3-2; W vs Dominican,  3-2 (2-0 weekly record; 13-5 overall record; 9-2 PacWest, second place)

THIS WEEK: at Chaminade (13-3, 7-3 PacWest) - Tuesday Oct. 9 at 10:00 p.m. PT; at Hawaii Pacific (5-10, 4-5 PacWest) - Wednesday Oct. 10 at 10:00 p.m. PT; at Hawaii Hilo (11-4, 7-2 PacWest) - Friday Oct. 12 at 10:00 p.m. PT

MULTIMEDIA: All three matches will be live streamed and have live statistics available if anyone wants to stay up late and follow along at home. All three schools do charge for their live streams (between $7.95 - $9 per match), but the live statistics are free. Also, in-match updates will be available on our Twitter (@BiolaAthletics) and Instagram Story.

TICKETS: See the bottom of each preview below for site-specific ticketing information.

BIOLA (13-5, 9-2) vs. CHAMINADE (13-3, 7-3): Tuesday Oct. 9 at 10:00 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($) \\ Previous Meeting: Biola wins 3-0
The last time these two sides met Chaminade came into it with a perfect 9-0 record on the season and was sitting atop the PacWest standings. Biola defended home court with a very quick 3-0 win and sent Chaminade on a rocky stretch over the past few weeks (4-3 overall). The Silverswords will come into this matchup both looking for revenge and riding high, because they were able to take down Hawaii Hilo (11-4, 7-2 PacWest) this past weekend in a matchup that could help decide the eventual conference champion, since it was just Hilo's second conference loss. Biola is 2-0 all-time against the Silverswords, with their only two meetings coming since Biola joined the PacWest last year. In the win earlier this year, Biola had 10 blocks and only hit into one, and the Eagles managed six service aces to CUH's one. Those numbers, plus Biola's .315 hitting percentage were good enough to tip the scales in Biola's favor and hand the Silverswords their first loss. Christina DenBoer led the offense with 10 kills in that win, while Sierra Bauder had nine kills, six blocks and hit .500. A repeat performance by the Eagles' top players will be essential if BU is to replicate the result from the mainland.

TICKETS - Admission is $8 at McCabe Gym.

BIOLA (13-5, 9-2) vs. HAWAII PACIFIC (5-10, 4-5): Wednesday Oct. 10 at 10:00 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($) \\ Previous Meeting: Biola wins 3-0
Last year's trip to Hawaii was spoiled by this Hawaii Pacific Sharks team. The Eagles began their journey through paradise with a 3-1 win over Hawaii Hilo and had high hopes of a 2-0 week until HPU managed a 15-10 set five win to beat BU, 3-2. Hawaii Pacific was the only Hawaiian school Biola suffered a loss to last season, despite the Sharks' pedestrian record (7-21, 5-15). Hawaii Pacific is off to a similar start to this season with just five total wins to this point, and Biola did beat HPU 3-0 at home earlier in the year, but that is no reason to write off Hawaii Pacific. The Sharks' home matches at St. Andrew's Priory make for a very difficult environment for opposing teams, both because of the energy of the home crowd and also because of some very difficult weather conditions. The Eagles will need to be playing their best volleyball to avoid an upset yet again. Karly Dantuma led Biola's attack in their win over HPU earlier this year. The senior opposite hitter recorded 15 kills in a dominant effort (hitting .480) to more than double what the top attacker for the Sharks had. The Eagles come into this match with a 4-2 all-time mark against HPU.

TICKETS - Hawaii Pacific does not post their ticket prices.

BIOLA (13-5, 9-2) vs. HAWAII HILO (11-4, 7-2): Thursday Oct. 12 at 10:00 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($) \\ Previous Meeting: UHH wins 3-2
This matchup has turned into the most important of the week for Biola. If the Eagles can find a way to win their first two matches of the week, this match gains even more importance as it could make or break the Eagles' chances at a conference title. The Hawaii Hilo Vulcans have come on strong in the past few weeks to establish themselves as a legitimate contender in the conference. The 3-2 victory they earned at Chase Gymnasium two weeks ago carried them into second place in the conference, and they stayed there until a loss to Chaminade, combined with two BU wins last week lifted Biola back into that spot. Still, the two teams come into the week tied in the loss column with Biola having two more in the win column to make the one-match difference. Hawaii Hilo is the only Hawaii opponent that Biola comes into the week with a losing all-time record against (2-3). The Vulcans added that third win with first, third and fifth set victories at Biola back on Sept. 20. The nearly three-hour long match was easily the most competitive and highest level of volleyball played inside of Chase Gymnasium all year long. The two teams were only separated by two points when all was said and done with Hilo winning 18-16 in the fifth set. UHH hit .256 with Biola hitting .251 on the night, while both teams' leading attacker ended with 15 kills and both teams had two other players hit 14. It was incredible how narrow the margin between the two sides was. The Eagles had five more attack errors and four more service errors to help the Hilo cause. Regardless, expect a similar match in this meeting between the two sides, with UHH looking to bounce back from the Chaminade loss and keep pace in the PacWest and BU looking to finish its trip strong. It will be Biola's third game of the week and UHH's first. The Vulcans will have had four days off heading into the matchup, with their last outing bein Saturday's 3-1 win over Hawaii Pacific.

TICKETS - Admission is $5 at UHH Gymnasium.

ABOUT LAST WEEK: Last week was an amazing week for this program. The Eagles were able to take down previously-undefeated Azusa Pacific to pull within one match of the conference lead and completed the week with a 3-2 win over Dominican to stretch its winning streak to five-straight matches and eight of the last nine. What made Wednesday's win over Azusa Pacific extra special was how this Eagles' team managed to attain it. They came from behind (down 2-0) to win the final three sets and knock off the conference-darling Cougars and steal the first Cornerstone Cup points of the year. It was the first time Biola came back from down 2-0 to win a match since Sept. 2 of last year. Christina DenBoer and Sierra Bauder both landed 13 kills to lead Biola that night, but it was really the Eagles' blocking that was extra special. BU set a new season-high with 16 blocks against the Cougars, accounting to more than three-per-set. Bauder was in on 10 of those 16 blocks, which helped her take the conference lead in total blocks with 70. Sami Hover also moved into a conference-leading spot this past week after registering a combined total of 62 digs in the two matches (setting a new career-high with 35 vs. Dominican). The sophomore libero now leads the PacWest with 318 digs this year. After the emotional high of beating a bitter rival (and really, really good team) on Wednesday night, the Eagles had a tough time getting things going on Friday vs. a less successful Dominican Penguins team. Led by 17 kills from Dantuma, a great night from Brinley Beresford and the 35 digs by Hover, the Eagles managed to escape with a 3-2 win to keep pace in the conference.

ON AN ISLAND IN THE SUN: Biola Volleyball has played 19 matches vs. Hawaiian opponents in its 51-year history. This trip is just the third time it's played any of those matches on Hawaiian soil. Last year, of course, the Eagles made the trip as part of PacWest play, and this year is the same story. Also, back in 1997 coach Robin Davis took her team to Hilo, Hawaii to play in the season-opening Hawaiian Style Classic. During that tournament the Eagles faced BYU-Hawaii twice and Hawaii Pacific once. They got a 3-2 win over the Sharks (then the Sea Warriors) but suffered two losses to the 1997 NAIA Volleyball Champion Seasiders. Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii Pacific and BYU-Hawaii were all members of the NAIA back in the 80s and 90s before ultimately becoming NCAA Division II and PacWest Conference members.

WHAT A WEEK: Sophomore libero Sami Hover recorded 62 digs in two matches last week, averaging an astounding 6.2 digs-per-set. No other Biola libero has ever had that high of a total of digs over the course of back-to-back matches. Her 35 digs in the five-set win over Dominican was just four off of Tess Van Grouw's program-record of 39 digs in a match.

ROAD TO 1,000 (AND THEN SOME): Senior opposite hitter Karly Dantuma has now passed the 1,000 kill plateau and sits at 1,067. Dantuma also has a chance to eclipse 300 career blocks (267). If she does that she'd be just the fourth player in Biola history to have 1,000+ kills and 300+ blocks (Becky Miller, Amy Weststeyn, Michelle Warkentin).

SELTZER'S SEVENTEENTH: Seltzer is in his 17th season at the helm of the BU Volleyball squad. He's the winningest coach in program history with an all-time mark of 445-138 (.763). He's never experienced a losing season during his tenure at Biola (or even come close, with his "worst" mark being 19-11). His teams have won at least 26 matches every year since 2010.

NEXT WEEK: vs Notre Dame de Namur (10/19 at 6:00 p.m.); at Concordia Irvine (10/20 at 5:00 p.m.)