Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. — Hot starts to both halves sparked a big win for Biola Women's Water Polo during its first appearance at the Western Water Polo Association Championships. 

The Eagles, the number two seed on the west coast, played the Gannon Golden Knights from Erie, Pennsylvania, the number three seed from the East Coast.

Biola won the match 14-8, keyed by superb performances in the first and third quarters. Head Coach Sarah Orozco's side tallied a 5-1 advantage through eight minutes of play and then also outscored the Golden Knights 5-0 in the third quarter in order to pull away late.

Samantha Rainey did the job well between the pipes for Biola to earn the win. She stopped eight shots from Gannon, while the opposing keeper only managed two saves against Biola's shooters as the day went along.

The Eagles scored on 60 percent of the shots they took in this one, which is almost 20 percent higher than the team's season-average of .421.

Veralie Naranjo was the leader early on. She scored three of Biola's first period goals to get the team off to a good start. She would finish the match with a team-high four goals and four assists.

The Eagles struggled to score in the second (2-1 Gannon) and fourth quarters (5-3 Gannon), but it would not matter much in what was a relatively stress-free first round matchup.

Hanna Jordan and Rachel Spadt each scored three times in this one to join Naranjo with hat trick efforts. 

Maria Roldan Gonzalez was her usual spark plug self for Biola. She created good opportunities by coming up with five steals throughout the game and turned that into three assists.

All but one of Gannon's goals came from one player, Nicole Wiemken. She also drew almost every Biola exclusion with a strong performance in the losing effort.

Biola's victory secures a spot in the semifinals on Saturday. The Eagles are set to play at 2:15 p.m. against the East Coast's No. 1 seed, Salem. Salem defeated Fresno Pacific 11-9 in their first-round win on Friday.

Follow the live stream of that match at https://team1sports.com/fpusunbirds/