LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The 2019 Biola Volleyball schedule is all set with a pair of preseason tournaments, a lot of road conference contests in the first month and then eight in a row at home to end the season.

Things get going on the weekend of Sept. 6-7 when the team takes its first trip up to Anchorage, Alaska to play in the 2019 Alaska Anchorage Invitational at the Alaska Airlines Center. The Eagles' two preseason tournaments will be a great barometer to judge the team by playing six teams that combined to go 107-56 in 2018.

The second preseason tournament is the annual NCAA Division II West Region Crossover, which is hosted by the California Collegiate Athletic Conference this year. CSU San Bernardino, the top ranked team from the west region last season, will host Biola for matches against CSUSB, CSU San Marcos, Simon Fraser and UC San Diego. 

That tournament runs Sept. 13-14 and brings preseason play to a close. Biola is 21-11 all-time against its seven preseason opponents. Three of those opponents (Regis, Alaska Anchorage and Concord) are first-time opponents. 

PacWest Conference play begins with a quick Northern California road trip to face Holy Names on Sept. 20 and Academy of Art on Sept. 21. Biola Volleyball has never lost to either of those opponents. The Holy Names match is also Biola's first chance to extend its compelling 37-match winning streak against opponents with a bird as their mascot.

The schedule is road-heavy for the first half, with no home games at Chase Gymnasium until Saturday Sept. 28 when Biola hosts Concordia Irvine. It will be the 64th all-time meeting between the local rivals. Biola has won all meetings against CUI since September 2014.

That match on Sept. 28 kicks off a stretch of four tough ones in a row for BU. The Eagles go back on the road to face Point Loma (Oct. 2), Azusa Pacific (Oct. 5) and Chaminade (Oct. 9). Those three opponents finished first, third and fifth last season, with Biola at No. 2 and Hawaii Hilo No. 4.

The Eagles get Hawaii Hilo as part of their three-match Hawaiian road trip, which falls on the exact same schedule as one year ago. It begins with Chaminage on the ninth, then has Hawaii Pacific on the 10th and closes at Hilo on the 12th.

Biola managed to be the only PacWest school to go 3-0 on that road trip in 2018. It will look for a repeat performance this year if it wants a shot at a NCAA regional berth.

After the Hawaii trip the Eagles host HNU and ART U to complete the season series with those schools before heading back up to NorCal to face Notre Dame de Namur and Dominican. Those two were the tougher of the four Northern California opponents last season, but Biola still has a combined 16-0 record against them.

Finally, the Eagles come home on Nov. 8 to begin its eight-match home stand to end the conference season. Most notable in that home stand should be the Cornerstone Cup matchup with Azusa Pacific on Nov 11, followed closely by Hawaii Hilo two nights later and also the Point Loma match on Nov. 20.

Perhaps the strangest schedule anomaly comes on Nov. 13 when Biola will host Chaminade for an 11 a.m. match to allow the Silverswords to catch a flight back to the islands that day.

Senior day is slated for November 23 against Notre Dame de Namur. It's a 3 p.m. first serve and will be followed by a ceremony to honor the 2019 team's seniors Sabrina Winslow, Kaitlin O'Brien and Becca Branch.

As always, all home games will be streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/biola/. For more information on Biola Volleyball, visit https://athletics.biola.edu/index.aspx?path=vball.