The Biola volleyball team played three matches this past week in as many days, coming away with two wins and a loss. The Montana Tech Orediggers handed the Eagles a tough five-set loss on Oct. 13, then Biola found their winning ways for the next two matches against Arizona Christian University on Oct. 14 and Hope International University on Oct. 15. The Eagles move to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play.

two of the best performances

“The team had a hard time getting motivated against Montana and overall we struggled to get energy and work together,” said senior setter Tori Moons. “But after rallying, we picked it up for Arizona Christian and Hope, with those two being two of the best games we have played as a team so far.”

Montana Tech came in as the unranked underdog, but shocked Biola by taking the five-set win over the No. 16 Eagles. The Orediggers proved the better team on this particular night, taking sets two and four in dominant fashion, winning the former 25-12 and the latter 25-15. Biola took set one 25-19 and set three 25-20, but then dropped the final set 15-8 as Montana Tech put on a hitting clinic, finishing the decisive fifth set with a .625 kill percent.

One positive note came with the return of sophomore outside hitter Brooke Watts, who had not played since Sept. 6 due to an injury. She made an immediate impact and finished the match with 12 kills to lead the Biola offense.

Arizona Christian came to La Mirada on Friday looking to get the upset as well, but Biola sent them back to Arizona in four sets. Despite a second set where the Eagles finished with a .025 kill percentage and ACU got the 25-23 win, Biola dominated the other three sets, winning them 25-15, 25-14 and 25-13, respectively.

A watt of energy

Three Eagles finished with a double-digit number in the kill column — sophomore outside Hannah van Warmerdam with 12, senior middle Ally Forsberg with 11 and sophomore opposite Karly Dantuma with 10.

The final game of the week featured a Hope International team that Biola possessed a 39-1 all-time record against. HIU took the Eagles to five sets earlier in the season, but this time ended in a clean three-set sweep for Biola. They played arguably their cleanest volleyball of the year, which resulted in a .308 kill percentage, their highest this season.

Dantuma finished the night with 10 kills and three errors of 20 attempts for a .350 kill percent, and Watts had another big game with 10 kills of her own and a .320 kill percentage.

“It was good having Brooke [Watts] back as she was excited to play again and brings great energy,” Moons said. “It’s just fun when people are feeling better and back to play.”

The Eagles return to action on Oct. 21, when they make the trek out to Rocklin, Calif. to face the William Jessup University Warriors at 5 p.m.