SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Day two of the Seaside Invitational saw an impressive victory for the Biola Eagles. A 25-20, 25-16, 16-25, 25-19 win went the way of the Eagles, who shut down Seattle Pacific on Saturday morning.
In the first match of Saturday's double feature, BU (2-0) came out swinging to continue its strong play from a Friday reverse sweep. The team faced a tough matchup in Seattle Pacific (1-2), which received votes in the AVCA NCAA DII Preseason Poll.
Dominique Kirton stayed hot, adding another top-tier performance, logging a team-high 16 kills against SPU. The righty outside hitter took 40 swings on the day with a .325 hitting percentage. Meredith Fisher was not far behind with 11 kills on 24 swings and three block assists.
As a team, Biola posted 52 kills (12 more than its opponent) to go along with a .243 hitting percentage, while holding the Falcons to a .181 mark. In each set that the Eagles were victorious, they accumulated at least 14 kills with a hitting percentage of over .270. Abby Brewster and Hannah Hanson orchestrated the offense with 20 and 16 assists, respectively. Brewster added nine kills and 11 digs to her stellar morning. Mary McDonnell contributed to the offense with three service aces, including the match-clinching point in the fourth set.
Set One: The Eagles made their first move with the service of
Hannah Hanson. Four-straight points came through, thanks to kills from three different Eagles, opening up a 7-4 lead for BU. The two teams traded three-point swings next, as the scoreline oscillated to 7-7 and then to 10-7 back in BU's favor. The Eagles continued to push their advantage and grabbed the 25-20 win. In the set, Biola netted 15 kills and a .275 hitting percentage and was led by Kirton with five kills.
Set Two: Set number two belonged to the Eagles. The lead never changed and was owned by Biola throughout in a 25-16 win. Five Eagles grabbed multiple kills for 17 total, including another six for Kirton. The big push came at 12-8, as six-straight rallies went the way of the Eagles. Three times Biola boasted a 10-point lead on the way to the convincing set victory.
Set Three: The attack stalled for BU with only six kills on 32 swings for a negative hitting percentage. Seattle Pacific maintained the same pace on offense but took advantage of the BU errors to open up a six point lead at 20-14. The final four points went the way of the Falcons, who extended the match into a fourth set.
Set Four: Biola returned to form, jumping ahead early with back-to-back kills from
Abigail Copeland. An early three-point lead ballooned to a seven point advantage with points coming from eight different Eagles. Fisher had six attack attempts and scored on five to help BU to a 25-19 finish in set four and a match win.
Biola will be back in action later in the day on Saturday, taking on Lewis at 4:30 pm in San Diego.
