Box Score

SEATTLE — Resilient and determined, the Crusaders never gave up Saturday afternoon in Seattle and the reward was a comeback victory.

The Northwest Nazarene volleyball team saw a pair of close sets slip away mid-match, putting them in a hole on the road at Seattle Pacific, but undaunted, the Crusaders rallied with their backs against the wall for a 25-17, 26-28, 24-26, 25-16, 15-10 victory in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"We are so happy to have gotten out of Seattle Pacific with a five-set win," NNU head volleyball coach Doug English said. "SPU played a great match and our team was able to battle."

After rolling in the opening set — grabbing a 22-11 lead on a Taylor VanValey kill and finished off the win on a tandem block from VanValey and Madi Farrell — NNU (11-7 overall, 8-2 GNAC) got a heck of a fight from the Falcons in the next two sets.

Another tandem block by Farrell and VanValey tied it, 24-24, and a hitting error by the Falcons gave the Crusaders a set point in the second set, but SPU stave off NNU and back-to-back kills from Lexi Biondi evened the match.

The third set went much the same as both teams played nip-and-tuck volleyball until, tied 24-24, back-to-back tandem blocks by the Falcons gave them a two set to one advantage.

But the Crusaders refused to be beaten, grabbing an 8-3 lead on a Jenna Caywood kill early in the fourth set to wrangled the momentum away from the Falcons (6-12, 4-6).

A late kill by Elayna Rice gave NNU a 23-15 edge on route to evening the match.

In the fifth and decisive set, a VanValey kill snapped a 6-6 tie and sent the Crusaders on their way to a victory capped by a Caywood kill.

"She was unreal hitting today and carried us through the first three sets," English said of Caywood, who had a career-high 20 kills and six blocks, while fellow middle blocker, Farrell, added 14 kills and five blocks.

Kendra Bodine added 19 kills and 23 digs, Rice helped out with eight kills and 18 digs, Linnea Phillips led the defense with 25 digs and Jacquelyn Johnson made 13 digs for the Crusaders.

"Our passers — Linnea, Elayna and Kendra — had one of their best matches of the year allowing our middles to go off," English said.

Setter Hailey Cook added a career-high 59 assists and 13 digs herself in the victory, the sixth straight win for NNU, which heads to Western Washington on Thursday for a clash with the 16th-ranked and GNAC-leading Vikings.