Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho – The Coyotes made it a lot more thrilling than Northwest Nazarene fans might have hoped for, but in the end, the outcome was just what the Crusaders wanted.

Tested, the NNU volleyball team prevailed in its one exhibition of the fall, surging in the fifth set to score a 25-15, 25-20, 25-27, 20-25, 15-9 win over visiting Canyon County rival The College of Idaho on Friday night in from of more than 300 fans at the Johnson Sports Center.

"It always feels good to get the first win out of the way and it always feels good to beat The C of I," NNU second-year head volleyball coach Doug English said.

"It's just fun to beat somebody else," added English, who is now 2-0 against the rival Coyotes. "That's kind of what we need to see is where we needed to go, and we needed to compete against somebody else.

"They made us look bad at times, and if it helps us in the future it's awesome."

Early in the match the Crusaders actually looked amazing, rolling out to a 10-3 lead on one of 18 match-high kills from All-American Andrea Terpstra and cruising to a first-set win, capped by another Terpstra kill.
 

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The second set proved closer, but again a Terpstra kill sparked the Crusaders. NNU used a 6-2 surge to snap a 9-9 tie and take slim advantage it maintained en route to a two set to none lead in the match headed into the 10-minute intermission.

In the locker room, the Yotes (1-4 overall) found some answers to the Crusaders onslaught and battled back, thwarting a third-set comeback by NNU to stay alive in the match.

Facing set point, Elayna Rice and Terpstra picked up kills, then a Rice service ace tied it, 24-24, before the Yotes finally prevailed.

"They hit a lot less balls out of bounds and they dug a lot more balls," English said of the Yotes turnaround in the match. "They started to key on our hitters and did a good job of figuring out who we wanted to set."

In the first two sets, the Yotes had 26 kills and 24 hitting errors compared to 22 kills and 5 miscues for NNU. In the third and fourth sets, The C of I had 31 kills and only 11 errors.

That helped The C of I even the match, but the Crusaders refused to lose in the final set, erasing an early 5-3 deficit with a 9-1 surge that saw Terpstra put away two balls and freshman Kendra Bodine add one of her 14 kills in her collegiate debut.

"Once we were able to adjust and get people we wanted balls and get some good swings … from people other than just Andi Terpstra and Kendra Bodine, it really helped us change the match," said English.

NNU closed out the match with a kill by setter Michelle Terpstra, who dished out 48 assists in the win.

Taylor Roberts added 19 digs to lead the defense, and Rice had a double-double, putting away 10 kills and adding 11 digs for the Crusaders, who open their regular season next Friday, playing Augustana (S.D.) at the Colorado School of Mines tournament.