The No. 1 Biola women’s volleyball team added three more Golden State Athletic Conference wins to their growing total after going through William Jessup University, Menlo College and Westmont College this week.
WITHOUT DROPPING A SET
Biola won their road games against William Jessup on Sept. 18 and Menlo on Sept. 19 in straight sets, increasing their set streak to nine games. The last time the team went nine games without dropping a set was in 2012.
Westmont University forced the closest conference game of the season on Sept. 22. After Biola won the first set, the Warriors took the second, breaking Biola’s streak.
“It’s definitely an adrenaline rush,” said senior setter Ashton Arbuthnot. “Nobody likes losing and when we haven’t lost at all in a couple of weeks now, it kind of pushes you and honestly just ticks you off and you don’t like it. We kind of said, ‘this is our home, this is our game and this is our gym’ and came out fired up.”
SHOWCASING CHAMPIONSHIP POISE
The teams continued to split the third and fourth set, forcing a fifth set to decide the match. Biola showcased their championship poise against the Warriors by coming up big when it mattered the most. Freshman opposite Karly Dantuma recorded five kills in the set.
“The team chemistry this year has been unbelievable,” said senior outside hitter Joclyn Kirton. “We all connected right away and we play so well together on the court and hang out and are so close off the court and I think that has a lot to do with how well we are to pick each other up when games like this happen we are able to turn it around really fast and encourage one another.”
HOLDING A PERFECT RECORD
Biola currently holds a perfect record of 13-0 while being 5-0 in GSAC. This is the best start since the team kicked off the year 15-0 in the 2013 season.
“We’ve been really working hard in practice,” Arbuthnot said. “Every day at practice we play the best team in the nation when we practice against ourselves. So we’re really just coming out, working hard in practice and knowing like this is some of the best competition we’re going to get and we’re always looking forward to whatever game is next, it doesn’t matter if it’s a ranked team or not, we’re going to show up and take care of business.”
Kirton currently leads the Eagles 154 kills, already 20 more than her 134 total kills last season. Kirton is followed by with 111 kills by fellow senior outside hitter Britta Blaser, who is also on track to beat her 133 total from the 2014 season.
Senior middle blocker Lauren Hoenecke has recorded 45 blocks, and Arbuthnot holds 282 assists, followed by junior setter Tori Moons with 231.
Biola’s next game is against The Master’s College in Chase Gymnasium on Sept. 26. Master’s currently holds a record of 11-6 while being 4-1 in GSAC.
