Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — Facing possibly their biggest test of the season, the Crusaders didn't back down one bit.

Instead, 23^rd-ranked Northwest Nazarene took control early and rallied late, too, fending off upset-minded Alaska Anchorage, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-23, in an early-season battle for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference lead Thursday night at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.         

"I think that's the second-best team in our conference and I think they played like it and we played really good volleyball tonight," said NNU coach Doug English, whose team, based on the standings, can be called the best team in the GNAC for now.

The Crusaders (11-1 overall, 4-0 GNAC) started strong as an Elayna Rice kill sparked a 5-1 surge in the opening set, putting NNU on top 11-8, and well on its way to a dominating win in the opener.
 

A Taylor VanValey kill stretched the lead to 16-11 and a Rice kill set up set point before NNU took the 1-0 lead on a Seawolves service error.

"Elayna Rice was huge for us on the left side and got some big kills for us," English said, as Rice finished with a team-high 16 kills and added 13 digs.

The second set saw the Seawolves (10-3, 4-1) take a 17-11 lead on a Katelynn Zanders kill, as they fought back to even the match.

But the Crusaders came storming out of the locker-room after the second-set intermission and set the tone for the rest of the match, taking a 9-4 lead on a Kendra Bodine kill and going up 20-12 on a Taylor Roberts service ace.

Alaska Anchorage tried to answer in the fourth, but never shook the determined Crusaders who tied it 19-19 late on a Rice kill, took a 23-21 edge on an Andrea Terpstra kill, then finished off the match thanks to two UAA serving errors.

"It's just nice that our girls are playing well and stepping up when they need to step up and making big plays at the end of games," English said. "We've been doing that all year."

While Rice led the offense for NNU, Bodine added 14 kills, Michelle Terpstra dished out 47 assists, Roberts added 23 digs and Kaitlyn Tuholski had 10 digs in the Crusaders win.

Next up for the 23^rd-ranked team in the nation is their fifth match in 10 days when they host Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at 7 p.m.