Five Set Frustration

Recap, photo courtesy Biola

Biola suffers its first GSAC loss of the season as The Master's University upsets the Eagles in five.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- Sometimes things are just not meant to go your way. That's exactly what No. 13 Biola Volleyball experienced on Tuesday night as it began its week on the road with a five-set loss at The Master's University (20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 14-16).

The Eagles took a substantial lead in set one before watching it fall by the wayside as the Mustangs put seven consecutive points on the board late in the set to go from being down by three to up by four and just two points away from winning the set.

In front of a sizable home crowd TMU was able to win two of the final three points of the set and complete the comeback, which would prove pivotal, to win the set 25-20.

The Eagles worked around some offensive inconsistencies to take the second set, 25-19. The difference in that set was the early play of Ally Forsberg in the middle and Olivia Sorensen back outside (four kills and a block combined). Also, the Mustangs committed three setting errors, which awarded BU some free points.

Biola also managed to take the third set to earn a 2-1 advantage in the match and set itself up well to earn its fifth Golden State Athletic Conference win in as many tries. The Eagles only won the third set by two points, and they had to come from behind to do it, which was an early indicator that this match was going to go down to the wire.

The Master's had a stretch where they won 10 of 13 points in the middle of set four, which allowed them to earn a 25-18 set win and force the incredible fifth set.

Biola was the first team to reach a match point when it claimed a 14-13 advantage in the deciding frame. It was a classic Hannah van Warmerdam bullet that silenced Bross Court and had the Eagles as close to victory as they've been all night.

That kill was Biola's third point in a row as it finally overcame a TMU lead that had the fifth set in doubt throughout. Unfortunately, that streak came to an end and was replaced by a three-point streak for the host school that ultimately ended the match in their favor at 16-14.

It was a service ace that did the Eagles in. Biola suffered nine service errors on the night, which gave TMU a rare two-ace advantage in that category. The Eagles came into play with 113 aces to its opponents' 88.

Biola's biggest standouts on the stat sheer were Hannah van Warmerdam (14 kills), Brinley Beresford (30 assists) and Tess Van Grouw (22 digs). Also of note, Sierra Bauder had 10 kills, two blocks and hit .208 in her first game since Sept. 9.

The loss drops Biola to 13-6 (4-1 GSAC) and helps the Mustangs move into a tie in the GSAC standings with an overall mark of 11-5 (4-1 GSAC). Biola is back at it on Saturday when it goes toe-to-toe with No. 3 Westmont (16-0, 5-0 GSAC).