ELLENSBURG, Wash. — For the third time in just over a week, the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team held a 2-1 lead in sets but couldn't get the win, falling 23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-22, 15-7 to Central Washington in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Saturday night.

The Crusaders — who lost to Western Oregon and Western Washington last week in five sets after leading both matches 2-1 — got as close as 22-21 back in the fourth set, but a service error and a hitting error gave the Wildcats (12-5 overall, 4-1 GNAC) just enough of an edge to even the match. CWU then jumped up 7-2 on an Erin Norris kill in the final set and never looked back.

Lindsay Forseth led NNU (8-6, 2-4) with 21 kills and 17 digs while Amanda Boschma and Cammy Dranginis each had 10 kills, Haley Hevern added 34 digs and Eki Punimata had 45 assists.

The Crusaders will return home and host Saint Martin's University next Saturday night, but not before traveling to Eastern Oregon University on Tuesday to play their final non-conference match of the season against the Mountaineers in La Grande, Oregon.  Tuesday's match will begin at 6 p.m. PST, while Saturday's match will begin at 7 p.m. MST.