After playing at least two matches a week for the last two and half months, the Eagles volleyball team must have felt like they had a bye last week. After pulling out a tough four set victory at Masters on Saturday night, Biola was scheduled to take on Azusa Pacific, home of the Blackout, where all the fans show up wearing black shirts.
It was, perhaps, a little too effective.
Fifteen minutes before game time, Azusa’s Felix Event Center lost power, shrouding the teams in complete darkness while going through pre-game warm-ups. Emergency power kicked in, but all main facility services were down — the main arena lights and the scoreboard specifically.
By 7:30 p.m. the arena was still dark, and university officials decided to postpone the match until Nov. 11.
Against Masters, the Eagles dominated statistically in every category except points scored. The first two sets were not close as Biola rang up victories of 25-20 and then a 25-14 and looked to be cruising to another sweep over an unranked opponent. Apparently Masters didn’t get the memo and put up a fight in final two sets.
In the third set the teams played evenly before the Eagles pulled away from a 9-9 tie to build a four-point lead at 17-13. Masters went on a tear the rest of the way winning 12 of 18 points to win the set 25-22.
The Eagles pulled a trick out of the Masters book in the fourth set, after falling behind by five at 21-16, Biola rang up six consecutive points before a bad set ended the streak with both teams sitting at 22 points. Eight points later the game was still tied at 26-26 before a bizarre ending put a damper on the Masters upset hopes.
One point earlier the Masters were leading at 26-25 when a bad set forced the twelfth tied game of the match. With sophomore Amy Mosebar serving, another bad set gave the Eagles the lead at 27-26. The Eagles clinched the victory one point later with, of course, another bad set, bringing an anti-climatic end to the otherwise well- contested match.
Junior middle Tavea Hampton led the way for the Eagles offensively as she continues to improve in her strongest season yet as an Eagle, recording 12 kills and only one error in 17 swings for a .647 attack percentage. Hampton also had four blocks — two solo — on the night.
The Eagles had four players with double-digit dig numbers, including freshman setter Justine Schoneveld who also had 42 assists, two aces and two blocks. Senior middle/opposite Meghan Cunningham had 11 eleven kills and a .348 attack percentage while also recording three blocks.
The Eagles host No. 2 Cal Baptist on Halloween night at 7 p.m.
