Junior Rachel Buckley and sophomore Chelsea Amits go up for a block. They played against Vanguard on September 15, 2011 winning three sets at 25-19, 33-21,and 25-16. | Tyler Otte/THE CHIMES

The Biola women’s volleyball squad defeated Vanguard University in three sets, 25-19, 33-21, 25-16, on Thursday, Sept. 15 and Hope International University in three sets, 25-11, 25-17, 25-12 on Tuesday, Sept. 20. With these two wins, the Eagles are now 3-0 in conference play with a 15-4 overall record.

In Thursday’s game against the Vanguard Lions, despite ending the match in three sets, the Eagles were forced to make some early adjustments to get the win.

In the second set of the match Biola started out strong and took a pretty significant lead. But by the end of the set Vanguard had crept their way back into the game tying it at 24 apiece. Both teams continued to trade points until the Eagles pulled ahead with a huge kill by senior Joy Talcott.

Coach Aaron Seltzer had a very key timeout call late in set two which may have helped give the Eagles the edge they needed. Seltzer told the team they needed to refocus and play the way they know how to play.

“The more we play, the better we get,” Seltzer said.

Seltzer also pointed out that switching his defense around helped to stop the Lions’ momentum. Biola won the set 33-31.

Junior Christine Douglas led Biola with 13 kills and two blocks. Freshman Amy Weststeyn added 12 kills and three blocks, and sophomore Chelsee Arnitz contributed a solid nine kills and two blocks.

Seniors KaUwila Lavea and Jamie Heenan led Vanguard with 30 kills between the two.
“We came out on fire,” Douglas said after the game. “We had good flow and didn’t let the little things get to us.”

Eagles earn easy win over Hope International

In Tuesday’s game versus Hope International, the Eagles crushed the Royals in three straight sets, putting Biola in a three-way tie for first with Concordia University and Fresno Pacific University.

The Eagles came out strong again and easily took the first set 25-11. In the next set Bola held the Royals to 17 points in the second set and 12 in the third.

“We knew what we were doing, and we didn’t get down when things went wrong we just kept it up and worked hard,” Douglas said.

Douglas led Biola with 15 kills and four blocks.

Weststeyn added six kills and three blocks, and junior Rachel Buckley came up with five kills and four blocks for the Eagles.

Biola remained solid throughout the match. The Eagles combined for a .395 attack percentage compared to the Hope’s attack percentage of .023. Biola also racked up 10 blocks and kept Hope to two blocks in the match.

Upcoming matches

The Eagles will continue conference play Saturday, Sept. 24 at home against Concordia University. Biola is currently ranked No. 10 overall in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics as of Sept. 20 and Concordia is ranked No. 7.

“We need to win Saturday versus Concordia,” assistant coach Dani Aigaki said. “It’s a big one.”