Biola senior Jessica Buffum had a match-high 14 kills and senior Meghan Warkentin added 12 kills to lead the No. 4 Eagles to a 25-7, 25-18, 25-22 sweep over Westmont in a Golden State Athletic Conference match Saturday night in La Mirada.
With the win Biola improves to 12-0 and 2-0 in GSAC play. Westmont is now 6-6 and 0-2.
Biola had little trouble with Westmont on the night, taking control of the match early with a dominating 25-7 victory in the first set. The Eagles recorded one of their best sets of the season, recording 16 kills in 24 attacks with just one error for an impressive .625 attack percentage. Biola jumped out to a 12-2 lead before the Warriors recorded their first kill, and led 20-5 at one point late in the set.
In the second, the Eagles fell behind 7-2 before going on a long 17-2 run to take command. Biola led 24-12 before a six-point Westmont rally narrowed the gap.
The two teams played even in the third set before Biola used a 6-1 run to break a 10-10 tie. Westmont pulled within one at 18-17 with a short run of its own, but Biola stretched the lead back out to four and held on to win by three.
Buffum had 14 kills and added four digs and a pair of blocks while hitting .522 in the match. Warkentin was nearly unstoppable, hitting .611 with 12 kills in 18 attacks and one error.
Junior middle blocker Kelsey Christoferson recorded four kills in as many attacks and added three blocks playing in just the first two sets of the match.
Westmont hit just .086 on the night with outside hitter Alison Sharp leading the way with six kills and 10 digs. Middle blocker Katie Sharp added five kills and five blocks for the Warriors.
Westmont hosts The Master’s on Tuesday and Cal Lutheran on Thursday. Both matches are at 7 p.m.
Jeff Hoffman is Biola‘s sports information director.