Biola, Still a Nemesis, Beats CLU in 5 Games

Coach Robin Davis credits Rachel Pattison for setting the tempo of Biola’s women’s volleyball matches.

The senior setter must have felt energetic against Cal Lutheran on Thursday night as Biola rallied to defeat the Regals, 15-4, 10-15, 7-15, 15-7, 15-6, in an NAIA District III match at Cal Lutheran.

The loss was CLU’s second in three matches to Biola, the only team to defeat the Regals this season.

Biola (17-5), ranked 11th in the NAIA, improved its record to 7-0 against Division III opponents. CLU, ranked seventh in the NAIA, dropped to 23-2 overall.

This match was the first between the teams since September, when Biola defeated CLU in the championship match of the Azusa tournament and ended a Regal 14-match win streak. Cal Lutheran had won nine consecutive matches before Thursday night’s defeat.

Davis had conceded the hitting and blocking edge to CLU before the first nontournament match between the teams.

“They have some big horses and they’re stronger overall,” Davis said. “They have some girls who can jump higher and hit harder.”

Biola took advantage of CLU’s mistakes to jump ahead in the first game. Biola pulled in front, 12-2, before securing its easiest win of the match.

“The first game we were totally pressing,” CLU Coach Carey Snyder said. “Our players felt a lot of the pressure because we were ranked high and so were they.”

Biola dropped the second and third games before staging a decisive rally in the final two games.

“It was a matter of who was going to put it together at the end and we did,” Davis said. “I thought our serving was better and we felt like we had better setting than they did.”

CLU players became tight in the final two games because of the pressure, Snyder said.

“I think they took it a little too seriously,” Snyder said. “We made mistakes in the fifth game and too many unforced errors.”

Senior outside hitter Gloria Tafoya, who was pivotal in Biola’s win over CLU in the Azusa tournament, sat out Thursday’s match because of sprained ligaments suffered two weeks ago.

Heather Jones, a junior middle blocker, compensated for Tafoya’s absence. Her strong attacking off Pattison’s setting overpowered CLU in the final two games.

CLU remains 9-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference after the nonconference loss. The Regals travel to Fresno Pacific College on Saturday.