Biola played for the second straight night at home, taking on the Dominican University Penguins in a PacWest match Nov. 4. The Eagles took an impressive 3-1 win in comeback fashion over the Penguins.
A SLOW START
The Eagles started out slow in the first set, falling behind 5-0 early. A kill from junior Sierra Bauder closed the gap to 12-7, but the Eagles would never come closer as the Penguins attack played well. With the score 23-13, Dominican closed out the set on a kill and an Eagles error to win 25-13.
“It’s our first time around in the conference and they’ve gotta learn that if you don’t come out firing you get crushed,” said head coach Aaron Seltzer.
The second set began much differently as the two teams played evenly throughout the set until the Eagles took a 16-14 lead on a kill from junior Hannah Van Warmerdam. They pushed the lead to 19-17 on an excellent dump from junior setter Brinley Beresford, but the Penguins rallied to tie the set at 20. Junior opposite hitter Karly Dantuma gave the Eagles set point at 24-23 with several kills, and a Dominican attack error tied the match at one set apiece.
EAGLES GAIN MOMENTUM
The Eagles came out strong in the third set, led by stellar play at the net. Bauder dominated with two consecutive blocks to give her team a 9-4 lead early. Later in the set, consecutive kills from Van Warmerdam and an ace from freshman middle blocker Bekah Roth put Biola on top 16-9. Van Warmerdam closed the set out on another kill, winning it 25-18 for a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, the Eagles started a bit slow but eventually tied the set at eight following several kills from sophomore outside hitter Sabrina Winslow. Sophomore libero Kaitlin O’Brien entered the match and promptly put her team on a four-point run, capped by an ace for a 17-13 lead. Winslow later tallied an ace to push the lead to 23-19. Two straight kills from Van Warmerdam and Bauder closed the match as they took the set 25-21.
“Our team just does a really good job of rallying around each other,” Dantuma said.
STRONG EFFORT
On offense, Dantuma led the team with 12 kills, followed by Winslow and Van Warmerdam, who each tallied 10 kills. Beresford played at an elite level dishing out 40 assists.
“I thought [Van Warmerdam] coming in did a really good job for us, she came in and just settled things down, she played very well offensively. I think we really needed that,” Seltzer said. “We did a better job blocking balls and that was one of the bigger things.”
Bauder racked up an eye-popping five blocks, while Van Warmerdam recorded three stuffs. Senior libero Tess Van Grouw led the back row effort with 21 digs.
The Eagles return to action at home in a big match against fourth-place Concordia University at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8.
