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Abby Brewster sets ball
George Rodriguez
3
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 21-4,15-2 PacWest
1
Biola BIO 13-11,10-6 PacWest
Winner
Azusa Pacific APU
21-4,15-2 PacWest
3
Final
1
Biola BIO
13-11,10-6 PacWest
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Azusa Pacific APU 20 25 25 25 (3)
Biola BIO 25 10 13 20 (1)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

Opening Set Win Not Enough

Biola suffers a four-set loss to APU after getting off to a hot start.

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Volleyball closed out its Cornerstone Cup season series with Azusa Pacific at home on Saturday and shocked the first-place Cougars with a statement win in the first game, before going down in order in sets two, three and four of a 3-1 (25-20; 10-25; 13-25; 20-25) loss.

Biola was without senior leader Sabrina Winslow who was out with an injury sustained Friday night. Madison Beebe filled in and Savannah Hilde also saw some significant time and both did well to fill the gap, but when all was said and done APU's four-headed monster of Annaka Jorgenson, Aliyah Morrison, Julianne Miller and Katarina Radisic proved too much for Biola to handle.

That quartet combined for 50 of the Cougars' 55 kills in the match, with Morrison and Jorgenson both playing big roles in the long APU runs that led to their runaway victories in sets two and three.

Biola came into the match fired up, still rolling high on momentum from a dominant win over Fresno Pacific last night and eager to show they could compete with APU.

Compete they did in the first game, hitting a match-best .262 and recording a match-best 18 kills in the first game. The Eagles used a four-point run to take an early 7-4 lead before APU flipped the switch with five points in a row to move ahead 9-7.

After that it was back-and-forth for a while in a set that was tied at 10 different points throughout its run of play. APU held a 17-14 lead following an Amy Hinnant solo block of a Beebe swing. Beebe did not miss on her next swing, landing one in to set Biola off on its course of winning eight of the next nine points, including seven in a row, to make it 22-18 BU.

The run consisted of a few Azusa Pacific mishits, which were few and far between on Saturday, and some solid swing from Raegan Tjepkema and Becca Branch.

After getting the four-point lead Biola was able to play essentially side-out volleyball for the remainder of the game and took a 25-20 set win on an Abby Brewster kill down the line. 

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the mojo ran out completely in sets two and three and for the first time this season Biola hit negative in two different sets in the same match. BU had just six kills to go with eight errors in set two and five kills with eight errors in the third.

Thankfully, Biola bounced back to form in a competitive fourth-set, eventually staving off five Azusa Pacific chances at match point to send the home crowd home with a somewhat positive ending.

Eventually, the 24-15 lead proved to be as insurmountable as it looked when a Radisic kill off the block ended the final frame at 25-20 in favor of the Cougars and handed them the match.
Bekah Roth led Biola with 11 kills. Beebe and Tjepkema both had nine and Branch added seven of her own in one of her best offensive nights of the season. Tjepkema bounced back after a down attacking night on Friday to hit .273 for the match. She was also in on six of Biola's 11 blocks in another solid all-around night.

Abby Brewster was also in on six blocks for the Eagles, which is a new career-high for her. She led the team with 19 assists, added seven digs and a pair of kills to do her best to keep Biola in it. Her 30 attack attempts was also a season-high.

It was another enjoyable matchup of the two best liberos in the PacWest. There were plenty of long rallies that would've ended earlier in most PacWest gyms if not for the work of Biola's Sami Hover and APU's Bailey Henington.  

Hover finished the night with 30 digs and Henington added 24 of her own to lead APU. The 30-dig effort is just the third of the three-year career for Hover, but it just so happens to be her second such effort in the last three matches for BU. She had 33 last Friday at Concordia.

The back rows were busy for both teams all night long with APU recording 87 digs and Biola 81. Branch had 10 and Kaitlin O'Brien nine to help out Hover. Marissa Price had eight in just two sets to set a new season-best for digs-per-set.

The loss drops Biola to 13-11 overall and 10-6 in PacWest play. Azusa Pacific sweeps the Cornerstone Cup matchups for the first time in the history of the annual competition. The Cougars remain alone atop the PacWest Conference standings at 21-4 (15-2 PacWest).

There's not much in terms of rest coming up for Biola as the Eagles host the Hawaii schools for three home matches this coming week. Those three opponents come in as part of a three-way tie for second in the conference at 13-3. Biola defeated Hawaii Pacific and lost to both Chaminade and Hawaii Hilo earlier in the year in Hawaii.

The first of those three matchups is Monday night at 7 p.m. against Hawaii Hilo (18-6, 13-3 PacWest).
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