The Biola Eagles volleyball team faced a tough week, playing three straight games against top-25 NAIA ranked teams. They emerged from the week victorious, managing to snatch one match in straight sets and the other two in five-set thrillers.

Undoubtedly, their rematch with the 2013 NAIA National Champions University of Texas-Brownsville Ocelots on Thursday proved the biggest game of the week for the Eagles. They first had to face No. 25 Cal State University-San Marcos on Tuesday. The Eagles got off to a slow start, only hitting .176 with 11 kills in the first game but rallied quickly and were able to dispose of CSU San Marcos in a quick three-game match.

After a quick one-day turnaround, the Eagles found themselves face-to-face with the UTB Ocelots and the possibility of redeeming their heartbreaking national championship loss last year. They started out slow, a recurring theme for the Eagles, getting a feel for the Ocelots’ playing style. The Ocelots took the first set 25-19, but ended up unable to stop Biola’s offense in the second set, resulting in a second-set Eagle victory 25-17.

“The specific strategy for Texas is always to mentally stay in it,” said senior middle blocker Amy Weststeyn, “Because they swing hard, and they will put balls away, and all you can do is just move on.”

Extra points decided the thrilling third set, with the Ocelots barely winning 26-24. It looked like UTB was set to break Biola’s hearts yet again. However, Biola came back and dominated the fourth and fifth sets – 25-17 and 15-7, respectively. This marks only the second time these two teams have met that Biola emerged victorious. Eagles hope to use this momentum going forward to the last few weeks of conference play, and then into the postseason.

The final team the Eagles faced, No. 24 ranked Vanguard University, proved quite a challenge for Biola. For the second straight game, the match went to five sets, with Biola seemingly unprepared for Vanguard’s ferocity after the first set.  

“They came out very hard,” said Weststeyn. “They were so scrappy; going after everything… And I think it caught us off guard a little bit.”

The Eagles took the first set 25-19, helped along by a number of careless errors by Vanguard. Vanguard then proceeded to take over the second and third sets, winning them 25-17 and 25-19. Biola, recognizing that they needed to fight for the win, proceeded to barely take the fourth set 25-21, followed by a final set victory of 15-11.

The Eagles enter the last two weeks of regular season 10-1 in GSAC and 22-4 overall, looking to finish the rest of the regular season strong and hopefully win a national championship.