LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Volleyball has its toughest road trip of the season this week as it plays three matches in four days on two different Hawaiian islands. The Eagles went 3-0 on this trip last season, making them the only conference school to accomplish such a feat. This year all three opponents seem to be in the mix for the top spots in the conference with Chaminade leading the way at 7-0 and all three sitting inside of the top-4. So, to repeat last year's success is a tall order.

THIS WEEK: at Chaminade (13-2; 7-0 PacWest) - Wednesday Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. PT; at Hawaii Pacific (10-5; 6-1 PacWest) - Thursday Oct. 10 at 10 p.m. PT; at Hawaii Hilo (10-5; 5-2 PacWest) - Saturday Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. PT

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live statistics will be available for all three matches. See the links below for the direct link for each match. Biola offers free live video of all home events at portal.stretchinternet.com/biola.

BIOLA AT CHAMINADE (13-2; 7-0 PacWest): Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($9.00)
The Silverwords have been impressive this season, boasting a 13-2 overall record and a 7-0 PacWest record. They have only dropped three sets in conference play all year as senior outside hitter Emma Tecklenburg has paced the 'Swords with 158 kills. Biola holds a 3-0 all-time record against Chaminade however, with their most recent victory a 3-1 triumph last year in Honolulu. The Eagles took six of seven sets off Chaminade last season, also winning at home, 3-0. Sami Hover had 29 digs in the two matches and Biola hit right around .300 as a team to play some dominant volleyball. The most noticeable differentiator between the two teams last year was that Biola held an 18-7 advantage in blocks over the two matches. Bekah Roth was a big contributor to that with five blocks of her own. This season, Biola is averaging 2.11 blocks-per-set to rank fourth in the PacWest and 49th in all of NCAA Division II. Chaminade is at just 1.65 blocks-per-set to place eighth in the conference and outside of the top-150 nationally. If Biola can play to that advantage and limit errors on its offensive side, it may have a chance to hand the 'Swords their first PacWest loss of the year. Chaminade is 5-0 at home this season and has not lost in Honolulu since Nov. 3 of 2018.

NO TICKETING INFO | CHAMINADE CAMPUS MAP 

BIOLA AT HAWAII PACIFIC (10-5, 6-1 PacWest): Thursday Oct. 10 at 10 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($7.95)
Biola has a quick turnaround on Thursday as they take on the Hawai'i Pacific Sharks. The Sharks hold a 10-5 overall record, including a 6-1 PacWest mark. Their lone loss came at the hands of Chaminade as they were swept in their first conference matchup. Junior outside hitter Cameryn Collie leads HPU with 198 kills this season. Collie currently leads the PacWest in both kills-per-set (3.74) and points-per-set (4.16). She's second in total kills to reigning PacWest Player of the Week (and Hawaii Hilo star hitter) Bria Beale. Biola holds a 5-2 edge in the all-time series, including three straight wins. Two of the last three came last year as the Eagles swept the Sharks at home and in Hawai'i. Four of Hawaii Pacific's five losses this season have come via sweeps. The Sharks lost in three to Sonoma State (12-4), RV Central Washington (8-6), RV CSU Los Angeles (8-5) and RV Chaminade (13-2). As a team, Hawaii Pacific is top-3 in the PacWest in assists-per-set, kills-per-set, winning percentage, assists and kills. Biola will need to key in on Collie and find a way to take advantage of HPU being one of the weaker teams in the conference in digs and opponent's hitting percentage. Headed into this battle with Biola, HPU will be riding a six-match winning streak and playing with four days rest.

NO TICKETING INFO | HAWAII PACIFIC CAMPUS MAP

BIOLA AT HAWAII HILO (10-5, 5-2 PacWest): Saturday Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. PT \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($7.95)
The Eagles close their road trip with a Saturday matchup at Hawai'i Hilo. The Vulcans hold a 10-5 record, with a 5-2 mark in the PacWest. Those two losses came to their fellow Hawai'i foes HPU and Chaminade. UHH is led by junior outside hitter Bria Beale who boasts an impressive 207 kills this season to lead the PacWest. The all-time series is led by Biola 4-2. The Eagles split their two games with the Vulcans last year, with a 3-1 win in their most recent matchup in Hilo. The loss inside Chase Gym was definitely the biggest sting of the 2018 season as Biola led 13-11 in the fifth set and were unable to close it out. The road win started to make up for that, but BU will still be hungry for revenge this season since that loss contributed to Biola's one-game deficit in the conference standings last year and cost them a share of the PacWest title. Hawaii Hilo has not won at home yet this season (0-2). The Vulcans seem to have it flip-flopped, with a perfect 6-0 road mark in 2019. Hilo is second in the PacWest in aces and blocks and leads the league in assists and kills. With 15 matches under their belt the team has the second-most matches played in the conference this year. Fresno Pacific is tops with 17 matches played but is just 2-15 overall. Bekah Roth was once again a leader in the Eagles' 1-1 trip against UHH last season. She had nine blocks spread across the nine sets played with the Vulcans. Roth also had 10 kills on a .347 clip. The primary offensive attack against UHH was paced by three players not on the 2019 roster (Sierra Bauder, Karly Dantuma, Christina DenBoer).

HAWAII HILO TICKETING INFO | HAWAII HILO CAMPUS MAP 

ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Eagles faced two tough PacWest competitors on the road this week at Point Loma and Azusa Pacific. In their first match on Wednesday at Point Loma, Biola took an impressive 3-1 win led by 13 kills from junior middle blocker Bekah Roth and 24 digs from junior libero Sami Hover. Biola hit .237 in the match, which was its fifth-best total of the season. The win helped Biola improve to 4-0 to start the season in PacWest road games. Then, facing off against the conference leaders in Azusa, Biola gave the Cougars all they could handle. After dropping the first set, the Eagles rallied for a set two win. The 25-20 win in set two was at the time the largest point differential in the match, and it was powered by seven Biola blocks in that game alone. However, the Cougars attack proved too much for Biola as APU dominated the next two sets for a 3-1 victory. 

BLOCK PARTY: Abigail Copeland put together a pair of eight-block efforts in last week's four-setters. Her 16 blocks on the week helped her take over first place in the PacWest Conference in blocks-per-set (1.21) and helped her to a first-ever weekly conference honor. On Monday the freshman was named PacWest Defender of the Week. Copeland has been on a tear, having at least four blocks in each of her last four outings. Her offensive efforts have also been noticeably increasing, with at least five kills in four of her last five outings. She's hitting for a .281 clip this season, which is second-best on the team.

TOUGH START: Biola Volleyball has played the second-hardest schedule in the PacWest Conference to this point in the season. Only Holy Names (2-12) has played a schedule with an opponent winning percentage being higher than BU. This week's opponents will likely see Biola shoot up the charts in that category, with the three Hawaii schools forming a combined 33-12 overall record (.733). The opponents Biola's already faced have a combined winning percentage of .557 that makes it the 73rd most difficult schedule in all of NCAA Division II. If you factor out FPU and HNU the Eagles' have faced teams with a .642 mark, which would be top-10 nationally. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference has had the toughest go of it to this point in the season, with five of its teams inside of the top-20 in strength of schedule. Of course, that league also has five teams ranked in the top-11 in the latest AVCA/NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll.

IT'S GO TIME: The 2019 Biola Volleyball season has added significance in that it's the Eagles' first as full members in NCAA Division II. Back on July 12 the Biola campus received a call from the NCAA Division II Membership Committee notifying BU of its successful completion of the membership transition process. The change became official as of September 1 and now Biola is officially eligible for NCAA postseason play, national and regional rankings and official NCAA postseason honors for the first time. With no conference tournament, the Eagles will have to finish in the top-8 in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings to be able to get that first taste of NCAA postseason play.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
Becca Branch - 300 digs (234)
Vanessa Garcia - 1,500 assists (1,288)
Vanessa Garcia - 100 service aces (55)
Vanessa Garcia - 500 digs (400)
Savannah Hilde - 300 kills (238)
Savannah Hilde - 50 matches (48)
Sami Hover - 100 matches (85)
Sami Hover - 75 service aces (63)
Sami Hover - 1,500 digs (1,261) (school record: 2,097)
Kaitlin O'Brien - 150 assists (147)
Kaitlin O'Brien - 150 service aces (132) (school record: 182)
Bekah Roth - 100 matches (84)
Bekah Roth - 500 kills (476)
Bekah Roth - 100 service aces (75)
Bekah Roth - 300 total blocks (267)
Sabrina Winslow - 800 kills (770)
Sabrina Winslow - 50 service aces (39)
Sabrina Winslow - 500 digs (482)
Sabrina Winslow - 150 blocks (142)

THE ROAD TO 1,100: Biola Volleyball is 1,083-449 (.707) all-time. Biola's averaged 27 wins-per-year in Head Coach Aaron Seltzer's 17-year tenure. A good season will also put Seltzer within a handful of wins of 500 when the season is all done. He enters 2019 with an all-time coaching mark of 462-139 (.768).

NEW STAFF: Seltzer's coaching staff has doubled from its 2018 size. He and lead assistant Gracee Teague did it alone in 2018 but add Alex Leja and Sierra Bauder for 2019. Bauder, of course, was on the team last season and won conference player of the year. Leja is no stranger to Biola, having been groomed as a player and assistant coach at Vanguard University from 2009-15 before serving as head coach at NCAA Division III Alma College from 2016-18. 

NEXT WEEK: vs. Academy of Art (4-11, 2-6 PacWest) - Friday Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.; vs. Holy Names (2-12, 1-7 PacWest) - Saturday Oct. 19 at 3 p.m.