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VB Moment reverse sweep of APU

#2: APU About Face

Biola reverse sweeps Azusa Pacific in volleyball to make moment No. 2.

July 04, 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. Today is day nine of this countdown and will feature the No. 2 moment of the year.

#2: APU About Face
There was not much in terms of separation between Biola Volleyball and Azusa Pacific as the two teams faced off for the first time of the 2018 season inside of Chase Gym on Oct. 3. 

Biola came into the match 11-5 overall and 7-2 in PacWest play. The Eagles were just behind the Cougars in the conference standings, with APU entering play at 13-4 (9-0 PacWest).

Aaron Seltzer's team got put behind the eight ball early on after losing both of the first two sets (25-18; 25-23). However, the reason this match ended up on this list of top-10 moments is just how incredible of a comeback was staged by BU over the final three games.
 
BU hit .000 in the first game and could not seem to get any positive traction against an APU team whose pin hitters were just going off and getting seemingly every swing to land. That resulted in a runaway Cougar win in the first and a narrow 25-23 win in the second.

The second set loss stung a bit harder for the Biola side, because the Eagles had done a tremendous job of coming back from being down the entire set and finally took a lead at 17-16 and even as wide as 19-16, but could not hold it together to get the set win.

That deflating loss could have finished off the Biola team mentally, but instead the Eagles came out for the third set more motivated, and angry, than ever. The team held the Azusa Pacific hitters to just a .086 mark in the third set and for the first time in the match recorded more kills in a set then their opponent (12-10).

It was in no way an easy journey to win the game as Biola had to overturn deficits of three points on multiple occasions, but finally, thanks to a stretch that saw an 11-5 run, the Eagles managed to take a 20-19 lead and think about the chance of going into a fourth set.

The Eagles would win five of the next seven, including back-to-back kills from Sabrina Winslow, to seal that third set win at 25-21 and get the Biola faithful back in the match.

There was no sitting down from that point on as the momentum had completely shifted in the gym and Biola was playing almost picture perfect volleyball and APU seemed completely deflated. 

The Eagles rode the energy to a breakout fourth-set win (25-18) to push the match to the brink. Biola had a match-high 13 kills in the fourth set and hit the best percentage of the night in that one, too (.324). The Eagles' were beginning to shift the tide with strong play at the net, recording four blocks in the third and four more in the fourth to help them get off the floor and tie the match at two.

The first half of the fifth set had the feel of what we imagine future NCAA West Region playoffs would feel like. The two teams went back-and-forth, trading the lead or being tied eight different times before the side switch. Ultimately, it was again a kill from Winslow that sent the teams into the switch with Biola holding onto an 8-7 lead.
 
Then it all fell apart for the Cougars as Biola won all seven points after the switch to clinch the match with a decisive 15-7 win. The first point after the switch was a massive block from Brinley Beresford and Sierra Bauder that sent the place into an uproar. That was the Eagles' 16th and final block of the evening, a season-high.
 
"It was fun. They were so good in games one and two, and we were able to be good enough in the last three," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "It's always good to get a win. We hung around enough to find a way to play better. It was a good night."
 
Honorable Mention: Captain Kousei Finds The Net
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  Today's honorable mention moment took place during the great start to the 2018 home schedule for Biola Men's Soccer. Head Coach Todd Elkins' team went 2-0-1 over the first three matches at Al Barbour Field, including picking up a tie against a ranked team.

The excitement in those early matches peaked during a Thursday evening match against Northwest Nazarene. The Eagles played a back-and-forth match with the Nighthawks that featured two goals in the first eight minutes of the second half, making the game 2-2.

The Eagles held firm control of possession into the home stretch of the second half, taking eight shots without another to the Nighthawks. But Northwest Nazarene scrambled to keep the ball out of the net, even with Biola taking three corner kicks in a three-minute span from the 75th to 78th minute. 

There was nothing the visiting team could do once Biola's senior captain managed a good strike on the ball. With less than two minutes left in regulation, Kousei Mattox played a contested give-and-go with Leo Thompson and then dribbled away from chasing defenders to drill the ball inside the far post. Mattox then raced toward the left corner flag, where he was mobbed by his teammates and the entire Biola bench.
 
The senior went on to earn All-PacWest honors for the second year in a row and was joined by five of his teammates. Three of those All-PacWest players return to the Eagles' roster for 2019 (Jake Munivez, Luis Rodriguez, Leo Thompson) and Northwest Nazarene will also return to on Sept. 7 to be Biola's opponent in its first home match of the year.

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. APU About Face
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
Captain Kousei Finds The Net
 
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