Despite having an 18 day break between the ending of the regular season and the start of the postseason, the Eagles volleyball team played excellently as they got past the Madonna University Crusaders on Monday, Dec. 1, then the Evangel University Crusaders on Tuesday, Dec. 2. The No. 3 ranked Eagles team now has a season record of 28-3 heading into the last day of pool play in Sioux City, Iowa.
FIRST FACE OFF
The Eagles first faced No. 23 Madonna in one of the first games of the round. Those 18 days off were noticeable in the first set, as Biola only got 10 kills on 28 attempts and would lose 25-21. However, the ice had been broken, as they came alive in the second set and started looking like themselves again.
The second set was the best of the afternoon, as they put up 21 kills and only four errors for a .321 kill percentage, helping them on their way to a 25-17 set win. The third set ended up 25-20 in Biola’s favor, held up by 15 kills and only five errors. The fourth and final set was similar to the third, with the final score reading 25-19 with the Eagles getting 14 kills.
The Eagles’ net play was phenomenal, as they tallied 15 blocks against the Crusaders’ offense. Senior middle blocker Alyssa Mason led Biola in kills, putting up 15, while also taking part in eight blocks. Senior middle blocker Lauren Hoenecke also did her part, ending with 12 kills, as did senior outside hitters Joclyn Kirton and Britta Blaser, who ended the match with 11 kills each.
THE NEXT DAY
The next day, the No. 17 ranked Evangel Crusaders faced the Eagles. The Crusaders were coming off a huge upset victory over the No. 8 ranked Park University Pirates, who Biola lost to in five sets earlier in the season. However, Biola absolutely demolished Evangel in this matchup, beating them in straight sets (25-12, 25-16, 25-15). The stat that hurt Evangel the most was their kill percentage of exactly .000, off 17 kills and 17 errors. On the flipside, Biola more than doubled the Crusaders’ kill output, ending with 44 and only 16 errors.
Kirton and Mason came in first and second for kills on the match, with Kirton adding 15 to her team-leading total and Mason putting up a solid 10 kills. Of the 24 team field, Kirton is sitting in the top-five for kill percentage over the first two matches with a .460 average. Coming back from a rough performance against Madonna the day before, freshman outside hitter Christina DenBoer had a solid night with four kills and zero errors. Three of her kills came in the third set in which some of the other Biola hitters were struggling. Biola put up four aces, getting two from senior setter Ashton Arbuthnot and two from Mason.
FINAL MATCH
The final match of pool play finds the Eagles match up against the team that eliminated them from the NAIA tournament last year, the Park University Pirates. The Eagles sit in first place in the pool at 2-0, while Park has lost both of their matches. However, the Eagles will certainly not be treating the game as a sure win, as they know what Park is capable of. Play begins at 1:15 p.m. PST inside Tyson Event Center in Iowa.
