Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — The best blocking team in the nation turned it on defensively at the net Saturday night.

The 18^th ranked-Crusaders, who came into the match averaging 2.67 blocks per set, got 19 points off blocks against visiting Montana State Billings, squashing the Yellowjackets offense en route to a 25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-13 win at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.

"It's great when we block the way we did tonight, I think that was huge," NNU head volleyball coach Doug English said. "We took them out of their offense and we stopped  Chelsey Walter, who was the most efficient hitter in the conference, which was a huge deal for us and went a long way to winning the match."

Walter came in hitting .368 percent, and she had 12 kills, but she wasn't nearly as much of a factor as those 19 Crusader blocks.

Madi Farrell led the way for NNU (15-2 overall, 8-1 GNAC) with 10 blocks, including two solo rejections, while Andrea Terpstra added eight blocks and 10 kills in the win.

Blocking set the tone right away as a Farrell and Elayna Rice block made it 4-1 in the first set with a tandem block, an Andi Terpstra and Taylor VanValey block made it 6-2, and a Farrell and VanValey block pushed NNU in front 14-8.
 

Fittingly, it was a Farrell and VanValey block that finished off the first-set win for the Crusaders.

And it was more of the same in the second set as a Michelle Terpstra and Farrell block gave the Crusaders a 12-7 edge, a solo block by Rice made it 17-11, and a tandem block by Farrell and Kendra Bodine put NNU up two sets to none.

That seemed to awaken the Yellowjackets (9-8, 4-5), who came out of the mid-match intermission with a heighten intensity as they grabbed a 7-2 lead on a Stormy Siemion kill.

The Crusaders tied the set four times, but never led, as an Andrea Bowers kill got MSU Billings briefly back into the match.

"They came out really fiery and with a lot of energy, which you would expect them to do after losing the first two games," English said of the Yellowjackets.

That third-set win by MSU Billings, though, lit a fire in the Crusaders who went right back to shutting down the Yellowjackets offense at the net.

A Rice and Andi Terpstra block, followed by two Terpstra sisters tandem blocks, helped NNU forge a quick 7-2 lead and the Crusaders steam-rolled to the four-set win from that point.

"I think the difference was we got mad because we lost and we didn't pass ball over the net and dig balls over the net, which allowed us to run our offense," English said of his team's changed focus from the third to fourth set.

"And then we got a couple blocks early which allow us to take momentum away from them."

Along with blocking well, NNU hit well as Rice pounded down 13 kills for NNU — which recorded 54 in the win, a total that means free popcorn thanks to Stinker Stores for all the Crusader fans in attendance.

Rice also had 10 digs for NNU, which got 22 digs from Taylor Roberts and 37 assists and 11 digs from Michelle Terpstra.

The Crusaders continue their current home stand by hosting St. Martin's on Thursday and Western Oregon on Saturday.