The Biola Eagles women’s volleyball team had a full week of games, going from a two-day tournament to an intense five-set match to open Golden State Athletic Conference competition. All told, the team earned four wins and one loss, moving their overall record to 9-5.
Mixed bag of results
Biola started out at the Hope International University Labor Day Tournament on Sept. 2-3. Day one of competition pitted the Eagles against the La Sierra Golden Eagles. Biola took the first two sets, then La Sierra claimed the third and fourth, then finally Biola finished the match with a crucial 6-3 run at the end of the fifth set. Sophomore opposite Karly Dantuma and sophomore outside Hannah van Warmerdam led Biola’s attack with 15 kills each.
The final match of day one featured the Eagles versus the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors. Biola had a rough first set, losing 25-19 due to 10 hitting errors. They came back to win each of the next three sets 25-13, 25-19 and 25-16 to earn the 3-1 match victory. The second set went particularly well for Biola, as they hit .586 with 17 kills and zero attacking errors. Dantuma and van Warmerdam again had the best night offensively, compiling 13 kills each.
The Carroll College Fighting Saints faced Biola on day two. The Eagles took game one 25-17 off a .423 kill percentage, but dropped games two and three because they committed 19 attacking errors, while Carroll only had four. Biola cleaned up their act for game four, winning 25-18 and forcing a decisive game five. The score stayed within two points the whole time, until Carroll scored two in a row to win 15-13. Van Warmerdam again led in kills with 19 for the match.
Dispatched Bobcats
The last match of the tournament proved the easiest for Biola, as they dispatched the UC Merced Bobcats in straight sets. The Eagles more than doubled the amount of kills UC Merced had, 42-19 respectively, in the match that finished in under an hour. Junior middle blocker Ally Forsberg finished with 10 kills, the only Eagle to break double digits that afternoon. Freshman defensive specialist Kaitlin O’Brien helped the effort with four aces, double the Bobcats’ total.
The final match took place on Tuesday, as Biola lined up against the Hope International Royals in the first GSAC match. Games one and two went to the Eagles, as HIU had a negative kill percentage both games. The Eagles struggled in games three and four, requiring a fifth set for the fifth time this season. The score gap stayed at four for much of the game, until a six-point run from Biola gave them a 13-11 lead, which they would not relinquish, going on to win 15-12. Dantuma finished on top of the kills leaderboard again, ending with 16.
Biola makes the trek down to Phoenix, AZ on Sept. 9, when they will face the Arizona Christian Firestorm at 5 p.m.
