LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Volleyball continued its superior play, bringing down the Silverwords in three sets (25-20; 27-25; 25-13) to earn the sweep. The Silverswords began the day tied for first place in the PacWest Conference, but were not after Monday night.
The Eagles on the court were not the only ones on top of their game, the energy from the fans was just what Biola needed at Chase Gymnasium.
With the win, Biola improved to 12-7 (8-3 PacWest), while Chaminade dropped to 19-5 (9-3 PacWest). As a team, the Eagles had a total of 39 kills while hitting .227 with four aces, 52 digs and nine blocks. The last loss the Silverswords had was also against Biola back on October 9th.
Biola used five sets to win that one, but tonight three was enough.
"We played poised and confident, stayed aggressive the whole way through," said Head Coach Aaron Seltzer. "Amazing match and I could not be more proud of them."
Off to a slow start for the Eagles falling behind in a 0-4 trail, Chaminade was placing the ball just where Biola couldn't get to. After the first timeout Biola made a strong comeback and took the lead. After being down 8-4, the team capitalized on eight rallies in a row to make it 12-8 and would hold the lead the rest of the set.
In the huddle Seltzer mentioned to his team, "How important our mindset is and the ability to play the other side of the net, not worrying about how we played."
Throughout the set every time there was a timeout between both teams, Biola made capital out of winning the point.
Vanessa Garcia was the only Eagle with a double-double of 30 assists, 10 digs and four blocks on the night.
Biola was ready to roll with a four-point lead to start the second set with both teams working hard. Chaminde didn't back down, catching up to the Eagles at 18-14 and then winning five rallies in a row to take a brief lead at 19-18.
The Silverswords continued to capitalize on the rallies taking the lead by three at 22-19, making this set a nailbiter. Biola would ultimately win seven of the final nine rallies and take the second set 27-25. Again, Tjepkema and Garcia were key, having the final two kills of the comeback for BU.
The trio Madison Beebe, Dani Bryant, and Raegan Tjepkema matched with eight kills each for Biola Volleyball. Beebe finished with six digs, while keeping redshirt Junior Marcelle Butler in check all night. Bryant and Tjepkema both were on their game in the middle, being exactly what the team needed them to be. Bryant finished the match hitting .263 and added a block.
Tjepkma was great on both sides of the net, leading the Eagles in seven blocks, hitting .500 and adding two service aces. Her performance in the second set was critical to BU keeping the match momentum as she had four kills in five swings and added four blocks.
In the last set, Biola had the lead the whole time. The timeouts did not do much for the visitors as the Eagles won 25-13 to finish out the game. Madison Beebe held serve well to close out the match, lifting the Eagles to five-consecutive rally wins to finish off their Hawaiian counterparts.
The Eagles are back in action Wednesday evening as they take on Hawaii Pacific (4-14, 3-8 PacWest) at 7 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium. For live stats links and updates check athletics.biola.edu.
