Volleyball continued PacWest play Saturday night against Hawaii Pacific University looking to bounce back from a tough five-set loss against Hawaii Hilo University Thursday. They did just that, picking up their fourth sweep in five games led by a third set comeback.
The Eagles came out on a roll, with four different players picking up kills in the first six points, including two from senior middle blocker Sierra Bauder as Biola took a 6-1 lead. Senior opposite hitter Karly Dantuma widened the lead with a kill to put the Eagles up 15-9. Dantuma closed out the set on another kill as they took it 25-16.
The Sharks played Biola much tighter to start the second set, but the Eagles took a 12-7 lead on two more kills from Dantuma. They pulled away from there, taking a 20-9 lead on a kill from redshirt sophomore Christina DenBoer. They then closed out the set 25-12 on an ace from sophomore libero Sami Hover to take a two-set lead.
“We passed very well today, that’s what we needed and that just made it easier for our offense to do what it needed to do,” said head coach Aaron Seltzer.
Trying to avoid a sweep, HPU came out firing in the third set, taking a 12-5 lead early on an ace. Sophomore setter Vanessa Garcia got her team back into the set, recording consecutive aces, a kill and an assist to Dantuma to tie things up at 11. Dantuma then began dominating at the net, tallying back-to-back kills and a block to push the Biola lead to 17-12. Senior setter Brinley Beresford gave Biola set point on an ace, and DenBoer finished the match with a kill as they took the final set 25-20.
“I thought [our players] were very competitive tonight. We just worked hard. We continued to go until we got a good look, and then they would put it away. I like the energy, I like the focus, they just executed very well,” Seltzer said.
Dantuma led the offense with a dominant 15 kills, followed by DenBoer with 10. Garcia dished out a team-high 19 assists as well as four aces, and Hover led the defense with 14 digs.
The Eagles (9-5, 5-2 PacWest) close out a four-game homestand against Concordia University Irvine on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
