LA MIRADA, Calif. --- One of the things about sports like tennis that make them a refreshing change to other games is that its the journey to the victory that makes tennis exciting, not the final numbers. 

The route to victory ended up being pretty familiar for Biola Men's Tennis on Friday against Holy Names: Head Coach David Goodman's group won the doubles point for the sixth time in eight matches, Alexei Prokopchuk picked up another point in singles and the rest of the lineup also played solid to carry the Eagles to a 5-2 victory. 

But what was more impressive was Biola's resilience on the afternoon, as the Eagles took every the Hawks could throw at them and still won convincingly.

That narrative started in doubles, where all three courts were on serve through their first four changeovers. Quentin Lau and Derek James alleviated some of the pressure by winning back-to-back games on court three for a 6-3 win. 

Then Biola's duos on one and two both won tiebreakers to sweep doubles play: Prokopchuk and Edwyn Ramos clinched the point with a 7-5 win on court one, but Logan Blair and Andres Meneses had a much easier time winning their tiebreak, 7-2.

Singles play also started out close, as four of the courts needed to go to an 11th game and beyond to decide the first set. Derek James and Edwyn Ramos probably delivered the first-set wins that officially swung the momentum in Biola's favor, as each man took it by a 7-5 score. 

James took the set after being broken up 5-4 and just continued to roll in the second set on the heels winning three-straight games: the No. 3 player took his next set 6-2 to earn Biola's first singles point. But having proven he could win 7-5, Ramos played much more freely at the end of his second set to replicate the 7-5 score and clinch the match for Biola with the Eagles' fourth point.

The third and fourth point were solidified in a whirlwind for Goodman's group, as it seemed for a while that Ramos would have been the third win for Biola. Justus Drees has found a rhythm against Alexei Prokopchuk on court one and was up a break at 5-3. But then the Ukrainian absolutely reversed the course of the match, rattling off four games in a row to rip the set from under Drees' feet and earn another straight-set victory at No. 1.

Holy Names would earns its first points shortly thereafter on court six. But the dual match would conclude with a very engaging concurrence between courts two and five. With the match decided in Biola's favor, the third set for Meneses and Blair turned into superbreakers that were being played at the same time. 

Meneses had a few minutes headstart and took control early in the breaker to win 10-4. Blair had a valiant comeback attempt after being down 5-1 going into the first changeover and won four points in a row to pull the score to 8-7 before being clipped by a fortunate glance off the net for Guillermo Romero. 

Biola Men's Tennis has the weekend off, but will head to San Diego to play Point Loma on Monday March 2.