The No. 1 Biola women’s volleyball team suffered their second loss of the season against the reigning NAIA volleyball champions, Park College, on Oct. 17. Since that moment, the Eagles beat the next four teams they faced in straight sets.
LEADING THE TEAM
Biola’s first two games of the week were both at home against Menlo College and William Jessup University. The Eagles were able to win the first two sets by a score of 25-13 and 25-11. The Oaks put up a stronger fight in the third set, but still fell by a score of 25-18.
Senior outside hitters Alyssa Mason and Joclyn Kirton led the team with nine kills each, followed by senior outside hitter Britta Blaser with eight. A majority of these kills were set by freshman setter Becca Branch, who recorded 20 assists.
“Right now we’re focusing a lot on our side of the net and just making sure that our passes are to the setter and then that way we can control the flow of the offense,” Mason said.
FEELING THE PRESSURE
The Eagles’ last home game of the week was against William Jessup University on Oct. 24. Biola stymied the warriors in the first two sets, barely allowing double digits and resulting in set scores of 25-10, 25-11. The closest the Warriors came to winning a set came in the third one when they trailed Biola by a score of 14-17. The Eagles felt the pressure and closed out the set with a 8-2 run.
Biola’s third game of the week was against The Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Oct. 27. The Mustang’s opened the match strong, leading the Eagles by a score of 7-4 until Biola won seven straight points to go up 11-7. Biola continued to win the first set by a score of 25-17.
The next two sets ended up going the Eagles’ way as well. Biola won the second set by a score of 25-22 and the third and final set by a score of 25-14.
A TOUGH SCHEDULE
Biola will face a tough schedule to close out the regular season. In the last four games they are scheduled to play the other two top teams of the Golden State Athletic Conference, No. 16 Westmont College on Oct. 30 and No. 8 Vanguard College on Nov. 10.
“We are focusing at Westmont right now,” Cunningham said. “We want to take it one game at a time so just watching film and getting prepared for that. Just kind of picking up on what they do best and then run those things on our side of the court.”
