Box Score

LACEY, Wash. — A bit road weary, the well-traveled Crusaders needed just a bit of time to get on track Thursday night.

Playing their 13^th match away from home this season, the visiting Northwest Nazarene volleyball team dropped the opening set before getting on track and rolling to a 21-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-11 win over host St. Martin's in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"They came out with a ton of energy and it took us a set to match them," NNU head volleyball coach Doug English said. "Then we played some clean volleyball and things turned our way.

"Any road win we can get we will take, no matter how long it takes."

NNU (10-7 overall, 7-2 GNAC) fell behind 12-4 in the opener but battled back, taking a 20-19 lead on a Madi Farrell kill, though the first set slipped away as the Saints (2-13, 1-8) rallied late.

That simply sparked the Crusaders fire as they dominated the next three sets for a fifth-straight win.

A Taylor VanValey block sparked a 9-0 run that put NNU on top 10-2 en route to winning the second set, then a pair of Elayna Rice kills highlighted a 10-2 surge by the Crusaders who took a commanding 11-4 third-set lead and never looked back.

In the fourth and final set, a VanValey kill followed by tandem blocks from Rice and Farrell then Farrell and VanValey, led NNU to a 7-2 advantage that the Crusaders never let slip away.

Rice led the way for a balanced Crusader attack, pounding down 10 kills and adding in 13 digs for NNU, which plays the second match of a four-match road trip at Seattle Pacific on Saturday at 2 p.m. (Mountain Time).

Farrell added nine kills and 10 blocks, Kendra Bodine had nine kills and seven digs,

Linnea Phillips led the defense with 16 digs and Hailey Cook dished out 35 assists for the Crusaders in the win.