If the old adage is to be believed, revenge is a dish best served cold. That turned out to be the case tonight on a chilly fall evening as the No. 6 ranked Biola Eagles volleyball team took on the No. 4 ranked Vanguard Lions. It was the Eagles who came out on top, dominating the match from beginning to end, emerging with the three sets to none (25-11, 25-19, 25-19) victory. This victory improves the Eagles Golden State Athletic Conference record to 14-2, and their overall record to 25-3.
The first time these two teams met this season ended poorly for the Eagles, as they took a 4-1 loss at the home of the Lions. This was the first time Biola volleyball had lost to Vanguard since 2011, and the Eagles came out tonight prepared to get back on the winning track.
“I think they did really well with the things we worked on and practiced all week,” said Aaron Seltzer, head coach. “We just got outplayed and outcoached the last time, and we were just a lot better prepared tonight.”
One area of massive improvement was in the errors, as the last time these two teams met, Biola committed 30 attacking errors alone. This match was an entirely different story, as they limited their errors to only nine on the match, contributing to a kill percentage of .407, their second highest of the season. By contrast, Vanguard made 19 attacking mistakes and only had a .126 kill percentage.
Notable players for the Eagles were senior outside hitter Britta Blaser, senior middle blocker Alyssa Mason and freshman opposite hitter Karly Dantuma. Blaser got 11 kills off 20 attempts with zero errors for a .550 kill percentage, but was slightly outshone by Dantuma, who put away 10 balls off of 17 attempts also with zero errors for .588 kill percentage. Above them both was Mason, who put up a .600 kill percentage with 11 of her 15 attempts resulting in kills, while only committing two errors.
Biola’s next game is their last of the regular season, and will see them face off against the Life Pacific College Warriors on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in Chase Gymnasium.
