Biola upsets Azusa Pacific 3-2 on Oct. 25, 2011. | Job Ang/THE CHIMES
Correction: The third subhead originally read that only two regular season matches are left, but there are seven remaining. The Chimes regrets this error.
Biola loses to Concordia, beats Azusa
The Biola women’s volleyball team took a close loss against Concordia University on Saturday in a five set match 25-16, 25-14, 20-25, 26-28 and 15-13. On Tuesday, Biola faced rival Azusa Pacific University in five sets and won 25-17, 25-22, 25-18, 29-27 and 15-11.
In Saturday’s away match, Concordia, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, took lead in the first and second sets with scores of 25-16 and 25-14. However, Biola came back, playing with integrity, to win sets three and four, 25-20 and 28-26, putting themselves back in the running for a chance to win.
In set five, there was a close 8-7 score at the change over led by Concordia. Biola freshman Amy Weststeyn got a kill to tie the game, but Concordia regained the lead and scored three points, making the score 11-8.
Biola’s heart was still in the game and fought back to tie the score 12-12, however, Concordia junior Fei Gao and freshman Reanna Schelhass each got a kill, bringing the score to 14-12. Biola junior Christine Douglas got a kill, but it was Schelhass who got the game-winning kill to end the match 15-13.
“It was kind of a heartbreaker, but it was just hard losing in five like how we did last time [against Concordia], but they’re a really good team and they’re undefeated right now. I was still really proud of us for coming all the way back and only losing by a few points,” junior Nicolette Mather said.
Eagles upset No. 7 Azusa in five sets at home
On Tuesday at Biola’s home court, the Eagles took on rival Azusa Cougars and won in a five-set match, giving Biola head coach Aaron Seltzer a career win of 250, placing him in the top-10 active coaches in the NAIA.
In the first set of the game, Biola recorded a .545 attack percentage and only two attack errors, winning 25-17.
In the second set, despite getting back-to-back kills by Douglas and Mather and the Eagles making two errors, APU came back to win with a score of 25-22.
The Cougars recorded a .333 attack percentage against the Eagles’ .144 attack percentage in the third set and won 25-18.
The fourth set proved the toughest throughout the game because the scores showed one point leads, ties and finally a kill from senior Sarah McAtee and Mather, winning the set for Biola by two points, 29-27.
In the final set of the game, Biola took an early 5-2 lead, and soon the score was 10-5. The score quickly turned into 14-9 and Douglas got the game-winning kill to end the game. Furthermore, Biola’s win dropped NAIA No. 7 Azusa from being second in the Golden State Athletic Conference to third.
“Home court definitely helps and our fans were awesome and just consistency and playing really hard. We really wanted to win,” Mather said.
This game marked the last against Azusa because next year they will be Division II in the NCAA. There are still possibilities Biola will play against APU next year in the regular season, however.
“I was just really excited to play APU for the last time. They’re a huge rival and they’re going Division II next year so this is like our last hurrah,” Mather said. “And just after all of our losses, I think we really needed a win just to keep our spirits up and I’m just really proud of our team.”
NAIA No. 14 Biola is fifth in the GSAC with 7-6 conference record and 19-10 overall record.
Biola has seven regular season matches left
On Thursday, Oct. 27, Biola will host NAIA No. 1 University of Texas-Brownsville at 7 p.m. Then they will play against GSAC No. 7 Westmont College on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. at Biola.
“We need a lot of fans to come cheer us on because we have some home games and they are going to be a challenge,” Mather said. “But I think that if we play hard and do what we did tonight [against APU] that will be fine.”
