HONOLULU – After a quality win Saturday at Hawai'i Hilo, the Chaminade University women's volleyball team was hoping to make another splash against another Pacific West Conference upper-tier foe on Tuesday.
Instead Biola mounted a furious comeback in the opening frame that helped set the tone for the night in front of a boisterous crowd of 265 at McCabe Gym.
The Eagles handed the Silverswords their first home loss this season in a 27-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-15 win. Chaminade fell to 13-4 overall and 7-4 in the PacWest.
Despite the loss,
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) put down a team-high 14 kills giving her 788 in her career, passing Danielle Robins (1995-97) for ninth in the school's all-time kills list. The junior also added 11 digs.
Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcadia) put down 12 on the night while hitting .346.
Brooke Bell (Escondido, Calif./North Idaho College/Calvin Christian) powered down 11 with a .348 attack percentage. Bell also had four total blocks, setting a season-high with two block solos.
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison) added eight kills while
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) had four.
Making her first start of the season,
Skyler Curry (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) had 26 assists while
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) had 19 with two aces.
Zanon made a team-high 12 digs with
Nina Torio (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) contributing with 10.
Biola was led by Christina DenBour, a high school teammate of Bell at Calvin Christian, who put down a match-high 19 kills. The Eagles improved to 14-5 and solidified their spot in second-place in the conference at 10-2, just a half-game behind league-leading Azusa Pacific.
Chaminade opened the match with fevered pitch, jumping out to leads of 7-1, 12-5 and 17-10 in the first set. But Biola came roaring back with a 12-5 run which put them ahead for the first time at 22-21. The 'Swords managed to get the points back, twice serving for set point including at 25-24. But two hitting errors and a DenBoer kill completed the stunning comeback to put BU ahead, 1-0.
The 'Swords then turned the tables on the Eagles in the second set, erasing an 18-16 deficit with a Handy solo roof, kills from Reedy and Bell and forcing three hitting errors as a part of a 6-0 run. Torio's service ace completed a set-ending 9-1 CUH surge to tie the match at a set apiece.
However Biola took control in the third set by jumping out to a 14-4 lead from which Chaminade could not recover. BU's 10-4 run midway through the fourth set sealed the match.
Biola also had boisterous support from their men's and women's soccer teams who are in town to play the Silverswords soccer squads on Saturday.
The 'Swords were without key middle blocker
Terezie Cernosek (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) who wasn't available due to an illness.
Holly Pittman (Valencia, Calif./Northwest College/Valencia) and
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) played in her absence with the latter picking up two kills and a block.
The 'Swords were held to a .152 attack percentage, their third-lowest this season. Two of their lowest percentages have been at the hands of Biola including a season-low .057 in the first meeting on Sept. 17 in La Mirada, Calif. Meanwhile, the Eagles hit .272 on the night. The final tallies were actually close with Biola leading in kills (53-51), assists (50-49), blocks (8-6) and aces (6-5). Digs were even at 50.
Biola swept the season series from Chaminade which is now 0-3 against them in the all-time series.
The Silverswords return to action Thursday when they host Concordia Irvine at McCabe Gym. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
