College Division / Mitch Polin : Biola Women’s Volleyball Team Hits a New High

Winning is not exactly a new experience for the Biola College women’s volleyball team.

The Eagles have appeared in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament 2 of the last 3 years and have established themselves as a perennial power in District III.

But this year, the Eagles are taking their success to new heights.

Biola is off to a 21-2 start, its best, and is ranked No. 3 in the NAIA, its highest.

That’s even higher than the Eagles were ranked when they finished second in the NAIA national tournament in 1985 and seventh in 1986. The highest Biola was ranked in either of those seasons was seventh in 1985.

The Eagles didn’t exactly struggle last season when they went 21-10 and lost to Westmont in the NAIA District III final in their first season under Coach Robin Davis.

But there is a noticeable difference in Biola’s play this year, and middle blocker Heather Jones says it has a lot to do with the players’ togetherness.

“There’s a lot of unity on this team, which you don’t see on many teams,” she said.

Added outside hitter Liane Lewis: “We really care about the other players. It’s not just on the court.”

Of course, a lot of teams can say that they have unity and togetherness. What makes Biola’s so special is that the Eagles have not had long for it to develop. Although this is one of Biola’s best teams, it is also one of its youngest.

The Eagles start two seniors, Lewis and Jones, but they also have three freshmen among their six starters. They are setter Julie Dahlberg, right side hitter Monica Smith and outside hitter Daunelle Carter. The other starter is junior middle blocker Debbie Beaumont.

Davis said that after he lost several key seniors from last year’s team, recruiting became a priority.

“After last season . . . I knew I needed to recruit well,” he said. “My senior setter had left and I didn’t have a backup.”

Enter Dahlberg, a high school standout at Simi Valley Royal. “As soon as I got her and a couple of other girls, I knew we had the people to do well,” Davis said.

“From Day 1, I challenged the freshmen. The first day, one of our freshmen made the comment in practice that they made a dumb freshman mistake. But we haven’t made a lot of freshman mistakes.”

The Eagles are still not playing as well as Davis would like, although he says he has seen steady progress.

“We still haven’t arrived yet,” he said. “We’re getting better and better each week, but we were decent from the beginning. Right now, we’d still like our offense to be a little more diverse. We’d like it to be a little quicker and a little sneakier.”

But the coach admits he can’t quibble with success and gives a lot of the credit to Lewis and Jones.

“With the senior leadership, it fell into place quickly because we started off hot,” Davis said.

Lewis, an All-District III performer, said she was prepared to accept her role after last season.

“That has been one of my goals, to be the leader and the motivator,” she said. “I was excited preparing for this year, knowing that I would have that responsibility.”

Going into this week’s play, Jones leads the team with a .440 kill percentage and Lewis is second at .340. But Davis said the Eagles have not had to rely on one player for their success.

“They’re the steadiest and they’re the team leaders, but they’re not the dominant types,” he said. “Either one can play well and lead us, but it’s not as if they have to do well for us to win. I think (the freshmen) have been just as consistent. They just didn’t start at the same level, but they’ve reached that level now.”

Perhaps that helps explain why Biola has been so successful on the road. The Eagles, who have played only 6 home games, are 15-2 away from home.

“I don’t know about other teams but it doesn’t seem tougher for our team to play on the road,” Davis said. “Our team is more focused on the road. We just do what we have to do.”

That has left the Eagles with an abundant supply of confidence.

“I think the feeling is, there is just no way we can lose, and when you have a lot of confidence you can’t help but win,” Jones said.

Confident enough to have started the season with lofty goals.

“I have high goals for me and the team, and one of them is being undefeated in district, and we have one more game, so that’s within our reach,” Lewis said.

The most important goal is to make a return trip to the national tournament. But you won’t catch Lewis looking ahead. Not after losing to Westmont in the district final last season.

“I’m excited about the chance to go to nationals, but we can’t afford to look past district,” Lewis said.

But Jones admits she has thought about returning to the national tournament, which will be played in Topeka, Kan., in November.

“If you know what it’s like, the fact of having been there before and what a thrill it was for the team, you want to go back again,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying for.”

The Eagles would appear to be well on their way.

Midway through the season, Occidental and Azusa Pacific have emerged with the best records among College Division football teams in the Southland, but both teams figure to be tested this week.

Occidental (5-1), hoping to strengthen its bid for a Division III playoff berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., will visit Menlo (5-2) Saturday afternoon, and Azusa Pacific (4-1) will play host to UC Santa Barbara (4-3).

Occidental’s success has not been altogether surprising, considering that the Tigers reached the Division III playoffs from 1983 through 1985 and tied for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title last season.

Azusa Pacific’s success has been a little more surprising, since the Cougars were 2-8 last season. They have 30 lettermen from last year’s team and have also benefited from the addition of transfers such as quarterback Brian Hunt from Brigham Young and defensive tackle Gary Willison from USC.

College Division Notes

Coach Owen Wright of the La Verne men’s soccer team moved within a victory of his 300th win when the Leopards defeated Whittier last week, 1-0. Wright posted a 233-88-27 record in 21 seasons at Elizabethtown College of Pennsylvania and is 66-36-9 since arriving at La Verne in 1983. He figures to reach the 300 plateau when La Verne plays Caltech today. . . . Senior Dan Daley of Pomona-Pitzer College needs only 7 more catches to become the all-time leader in receptions in the NCAA Division III. Daley has 38 for 337 yards this season and ranks second in Division III.