NAMPA - Forced to a fifth game, the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team used a nine kill, two error effort in the finale to pull away from Seattle University 34-32, 19-30, 31-29, 28-30, 15-12 in front of 659 fans on Saturday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

"Timing is everything. They beat us in every statistical category except for two...one being the score in game five and the other being hitting errors," commented NNU head coach Jared Sliger. "Our crowd was phenomenal again tonight, they make it a difficult place to play."

NNU (2-0 GNAC, 8-2 Overall) used a balanced attack to outlast the Redhawks (0-2 GNAC, 3-7 Overall) with Lindsay Forseth leading the Crusaders with 17 kills. Cammy Dranginis had 16 kills and eight blocks, Loni Evenson had 15 kills and Chelsea Pelton had 11.

SU's Libby Graff posted a match-high 24 kills and Emily Deleissegues was the top defender on the night with 38 digs. Also in double-figures in kills for Seattle were Emily Powell with 19, Nikole Thompson with 17 and Jessica Gunderson with 10.

Down 1-4 in the fifth game, the Crusaders used a 7-0 run that included five kills, four from Evenson, and two SU attack errors to take an 8-4 lead, providing the lead that they would not relinquish. NNU out-hit SU in the last game .333 to .107, with nine kills and two errors compared to Seattle's eight kills and five errors.

The Crusaders play just one match next week, a road date at Seattle Pacific on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. PST.