AZUSA, Calif. -- Movie critics often say that sequels never live up to the original. The NAIA's No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific and a loud, supportive "Blackout" student section would beg to differ, as the Cougars won a 5-game thriller, 33-35, 27-30, 31-29, 30-28, 15-12, to complete the season sweep of No. 16-ranked Biola. The Cougars trailed by 2 games before sweeping the final 3 to clinch the victory in nearly identical fashion to the way the teams played the first time this season in La Mirada.
"Tonight we had the best volleyball atmosphere I have been a part of at Azusa Pacific," said Cougar head coach Chris Keife, now in his third season. "It was a fun match to watch as a coach, as a player and as a spectator."
Freshman Jill Baker broke the school's attack attempt record with 80 attempts, a standard she had just set in the Cougars' previous match with 77 attempts in a 4-game defeat to Point Loma Nazarene. Baker converted for a team-high 26 kills to go with 14 digs, a team-high 5 blocks and a match-high 4 service aces.
"As a freshman, I can't say I have a full appreciation of the rivalry just yet," said Baker. "But this win feels really good, and I know I don't want to ever lose to Biola in my career."
The night also marked career-bests for senior Chelsea Morgan and sophomore Megan Burch. Morgan posted a career-high 25 kills, converting at a team-high percentage of .286, while Burch registered a career-high 20 kills to go with 12 digs, her first double-double of the season.
"I want to leave my mark on this program and keep playing as hard as I can," said Morgan, who currently ranks fifth on the Cougar career kills chart with 1,188, just 18 shy of fourth on the list. "We have worked so hard every day giving as much as we can, so that we can play as well as we do in the tough matches like tonight. Even when we get down like we did tonight, we have the confidence and the ability to come back, and we all wanted it so bad."
Junior Alison Pattison, who moved into 5th place on the Azusa Pacific career digs chart in the Cougars' previous match, added a team-high 22 digs, while sophomore Brittany Brown posted 21 digs for the Cougars.
Biola was led by sophomore Meghan Scheenstra, who finished with a match-high 33 kills in 98 attempts, along with 15 kills and 5 blocks. Eagles junior Brittany Wing tallied 19 kills and a match-high 32 digs, and freshman Meghan Cunningham added 11 kills and a match-high 9 blocks.
Scheenstra collected 12 kills in the opening game, leading Biola back from a 29-27 deficit with a 3-point run to take a 30-29 lead. The teams traded 2-point runs for game point opportunities for each side to a 32-31 Biola lead, then traded single points until an Azusa Pacific attack error followed a Cunningham kill to hand the Eagles Game 1, 35-33. Incidentally, the result and score from the opening game was identical to the first game when the teams met in September in La Mirada.
The Eagles jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the second game and extended the lead to as many as 8 points at 20-12. The Cougars twice got to within 2 points at 27-25 and 29-27, but Biola's Kelsey Christoferson recorded 1 of her 9 kills to give the Eagles a 30-27 win in the second game.
"We gave ourselves a good position to win Game 1, but when you are not able to pull it out, it makes it hard to bounce right back for Game 2," said Baker, who had 6 kills in each of the first 3 games.
In the third game, Azusa Pacific took a page out of Biola's book, taking an early 9-1 lead and extending it out to 2 different 9-point leads at 17-8 and 18-9. The Eagles followed suit by quickly closing the gap with an 11-2 run to draw even at 20-20. The Eagles seized the lead at 24-23 after a Scheenstra kill, and Azusa Pacific had its back to the wall following a service error that gave Biola match point at 29-28. However, Morgan sandwiched a pair of kills around a Biola hitting error to pull off a 31-29 win to stay alive in the match.
"If we had played in the first couple games the same way we practice, we should not have had to play in the type of situation we were in tonight," said sophomore setter Allison Kincheloe, who registered 69 assists and 18 digs for the Cougars. "Even though we were down, I just tried to get everything out of my mind and start the next game like nothing had happened and it was a new match. We are a pretty calm team out there. We know if we do get to 5 games, the ball is in our court."
After taking a 4-1 lead to start Game 4, the Cougars weathered a 13-3 Biola run that gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead. Azusa Pacific fought back to within 2 points at 16-14 before the Eagles reeled off another 4 straight to take a commanding 20-14 lead. The Cougars again answered, tying the game at 25-25 and 27-27 before reclaiming the lead at 28-27. After another Christoferson kill tied the game at 28-28, Morgan put down consecutive kills to give Azusa Pacific a 30-28 win and even the match at 2 games apiece.
In the decisive fifth game, neither team led by more than 2 points until Baker gave the Cougars a 13-10 lead with 1 of her 4 fifth-game kills. Consecutive Azusa Pacific attack errors reduced the lead to 13-12, but Baker's 26th kill was followed by a block of Scheenstra by sophomore Kelsey Knudsen and Burch to seal the match and send the crowd bursting onto the court to celebrate the victory.
"I thought Biola played great, but I had complete confidence in my team," said Keife. "Even down 2 games, I told the team that we had been in this position before, and we know we can come back and win this match."
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 9-4 in GSAC play, 17-5 overall, while Biola drops to 6-7 in GSAC, 12-10 overall.
