Riverside, CA - The Golden Eagles prevailed in tonight's battle of the birds, defeating the Red Hawks from Simpson University (Redding, CA) 3-1. In a match in which neither time was willing to blink, it wasn't until the Golden Eagles convincingly won Game 4, that either team won a game by more than two points, 25-27, 27-25, 27-25, 25-13.

Leading the way for the Golden Eagles were the trio of Lupe Garcia, Lina Semaia, and Shelby Madigan. Garcia led the team in kills with 14, in addition to six digs, two blocks and two service aces. Semaia pitched in 13 kills and Madigan added 12 kills on the night. Junior setter, Colleen Stafford had a game high 43 assists to go along with 13 digs. In her first match of the season, Siao Malepeai led the team with 16 digs. The Golden Eagles out-blocked the Red Hawks 9-3.

For the second match in a row, the Golden Eagles coaching staff made slight adjustments to their line-up throughout the match. La Sierra used their deep line-up, playing thirteen players during the course of the match. Twelve of the thirteen played at least three of the four games.

Sarah Loogman led all players with a game-high 17 kills on the night. Audrey Green also contributed 14 kills and 19 digs. Teammate Kirsten Duren also finished with 19 digs in addition to seven kills. The Red Hawks Jamie Pickett led all players with 21 digs. Setter Kelly Tycksen added 39 assists and 12 digs. With the loss, Simpson drops to 0-3 on the young season.

The Golden Eagles improve to 4-1 on the season. They will be back in action on Tuesday night, when they play host to Pacific Union College, at 7pm.