Celebrations came and went after the ladies walloped APU last week, and the No. 4 ranked Lady Eagles looked ahead to an even tougher and more challenging opponent: No. 2 ranked Cal Baptist.
The Eagles traveled to Van Dyne Gymnasium in Riverside on Saturday night for what looked to be a clash between two giants.
Both teams came into the night with identical overall records, but Cal Baptist held a one game advantage over Biola in conference play.
Game one of the match was an intense back-and-forth fight, with neither team letting the other get a large lead. Even with the score tied 15 different times in the game, Cal Baptist still managed to get the upper hand by scoring three straight points late in the game. This was too much for the Eagles as their own late run was to no avail, and Cal Baptist took the first game, 30-28.
Game two and three belonged to Cal Baptist, with dominant runs late in both games that made it impossible for Biola to come back. Cal Baptist swept the match in three games, with the final two by a dominant score of 30-20, and 30-21.
When Westmont came to town, the Eagles looked to bounce back after their third loss of the year.
In another close game, the Eagles started off rough and eventually got themselves in a hole, trailing 28-25.
At this, the girls stormed back with five unanswered points to secure a 30-28 victory in the first game. Four of those crucial points came from a block and a kill by both junior outside hitter Jessica Buffum and sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Christoferson.
The second game started off well with the momentum in Biola’s favor. However, the 8-2 lead they started with eventually dwindled to 28-22. The women snapped out the funk quickly and finished Westmont off in the second game.
From there, the women were unstoppable, started by a 17-6 run lead by sophomore setter Abbie Wright. Wright and fellow setter, junior Christina Perkins, had a great night earning 43 kill combined. The Eagles held on for an easy win, 30-28, 30-23 and 30-15.
The Biola women have had incredible defense all year. Tuesday night was no exception, as they held Westmont to an abysmal .120 attack percentage.
Now with their 13th sweep in 19 games, the lady Eagles have some restored momentum to take on their next challenger. They travel to Costa Mesa this Thursday night to take on Vanguard University at 7:00 p.m.
