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#3: PacWest's Best

Biola earns THREE PacWest Player of the Year honors.

July 03, 2019

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Each day for the last week of June and first week of July we will count down Biola Athletics' top-10 moments/achievements from the 2018-19 athletic season. This day represents day eight of this countdown and will feature the No. 3 moment of the year.

#3: PacWest Best
Most of this countdown consists of outstanding team achievements, but today we shift the focus directly on a few individual student-athletes who put up career years and were recognized with top honors as a result.

Biola student-athletes won three PacWest Conference Player of the Year honors in 2018-19. That accounted for one-fifth of all the possible awards, since the conference sponsors 15 sports.

Men's Cross Country's top man Gabe Plendcio was the first to earn Player of the Year honors. He did so by leading Biola Men's Cross Country to Biola's first-ever PacWest Conference Championship.
 
He won the 8k event at the championship meet, which allowed him to take runner of the year honors. Even if he somehow came up second or third at the championship meet the Eagles' junior would have had a strong shot at conference runner of the year based on the merit of winning conference runner of the week every single week he ran throughout the season.
 
Plendcio had a remarkable year, which including setting Biola's all-time best mark in the 8k and being the first man to do it in sub-24:00 when he ran 23:59 at Santa Clara. He also won the year-end NCCAA Championship meet, helping Biola repeat as champions while also winning his second-straight individual title.
 
Next up was Biola Volleyball's Sierra Bauder. Bauder was battling Azusa Pacific's Julianne Miller all season long as the clear 1-2 punch in the PacWest Conference. It was not until the last two or three weeks of the year that it became evident Bauder was indeed the No. 1 in that 1-2 punch, especially when you considered Bauder's numbers in the head-to-head matchups between Biola and APU.

Bauder set the new PacWest Conference single-season record for hitting percentage and finished with the second-best mark in all of NCAA Division II. Including playoffs, Bauder recorded 332 kills and hit an astounding .441. She added a team-best 136 blocks to add to her gaudy numbers.
 
On top of the individual numbers, Bauder managed to play in every match of the season for the first time in her Biola career and helped Biola to a 30-6 overall record and NCCAA Championship. It was Biola's seventh 30+ win season since Aaron Seltzer took over in 2002. The Eagles finished second in the PacWest (barely) and would've easily made the NCAA Division II West Regional if eligible.

Bauder was also named AVCA NCAA Division II All-American. The first such award for Biola during its transition into NCAA Division II.

"This is such a big deal and it could not have happened for a better person," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "Sierra had a great year and has been a big part of this team. To see her rewarded in this way is really awesome. I am so proud of her and of this team."

Fast forward to the spring season and Biola brought home its third and final PacWest Player of the Year award. Biola Softball's Kayla Neff had the best season of her impressive three-year Biola career to stand above all else as the clear best offensive player in the conference.

Not only that, but she also served as starting catcher for 37 of Biola's 45 games and led a very diverse Biola pitching staff to incredible success. She helped the pitching staff transition to its first season using Own the Zone wristbands and helped the pitchers compile a stellar 2.82 staff ERA while finishing second in the conference with 199 strikeouts.

The junior finished her year hitting .424 with 24 extra-base hits, 34 RBI and 32 runs scored. She led the conference in hitting and was second in slugging percentage (.719) and on-base percentage (.477). She reached via walk or hit-by-pitch a combined 15 times and struck out only seven times all season long.

Neff tied for the conference lead in hits and was top-3 in both doubles (15) and homeruns (8). 
 
"I think Kayla worked extremely hard over the summer, during the fall and really stepped into all that it means to be an upperclassman," said Head Coach Nikki Udria. "She has always had leadership qualities, but in my eyes, it looked like she realized her leadership potential this year when our team really needed it. She really embraced that throughout the year. It is such a blessing for her to be able to receive this award and I am sure she would say the same."

Neff was also named NFCA/NCAA Division II All-West Region first team.

Honorable Mention: Katelyn Penner Finds Game-Winner
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Midfielder Katelyn Penner made a big impact during her first season with the Biola Eagles and in the PacWest. The Beaverton, Oregon-native earned All-PacWest first team honors in 2018 largely for her impressive work rate and creativity as an attacking mid, the things that don't directly translate to the stat sheet. 

But Penner would stand alone in the box score as the only woman with a goal next to her name in the first true conference match of the Eagles' season on Sept. 27 at Academy of Art. After playing the entirety of the first two halves before coming back for the first overtime period, Penner dispossessed her opponent with 16 second left on the clock and then buried the game-winner after taking three touches to earn a 1-0 win and three points on the road for Biola. 
 
The Eagles dominated the ball in that match, taking 24 shots with nine on goal compared to the Urban Knights' 10 shots and two on goal. Five women took at least three shots for Biola, but the ART U keeper Morgan Wirz made save after save until Penner delivered the shot that was simply unstoppable.

Penner's goal to beat the clock also kicked off the Eagles' unbeaten streak to start PacWest play, a streak that carried Biola two-thirds of the way through its Hawaii trip with a 4-0-2 record over a four-week span. 
 
The midfielder would go on to score one more goal and assist three others to join four of her teammates on the All-PacWest teams. All five of those women return for the 2019 season along with Madyson Brown, who earned All-PacWest recognition in 2017. It's a deep roster filled with postseason experience as well as new talent, raising the team's expectations for its first season of NCAA postseason eligibility. 

Top-10 Moments:
10. Men's Basketball Comes Back At Hawaii Hilo
9. Historic Tennis Victories
8. Swim Team Record-Breaking Efforts
7. Mackenna Mason Sweeps NCCAA Distance Titles
6. Softball Sweeps Way To Finals
5. Thompson's Hat Trick on Senior Day
4. NCCAA Championships For Days
3. PacWest Best
2. Thursday, July 4
1. Friday, July 5

Honorable Mentions:
Connor Kostecka's Bat Produces Two Walk-Off Hits
Paige Austin Carves Up APU
Ryan Thompson Wins PacWest 10k By An Eyelash
Women's Golf Makes A Run At PacWest Title
Volleyball Gets Revenge At Home
Tennis Teams Qualify For PacWest Championships
Men's Cross Country Puts On A Show At Santa Clara
Katelyn Penner Finds Game-Winner
 
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