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Northwest Nazarene University Athletics

NNU volleyball at Concordia

Crusaders show championship form in 5-set win at Concordia

| By: Mike Stetson, Sports Information Director
Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. — The defending champs answered the call on the road in championship style Friday night.

Playing on the road at Great Northwest Athletic Conference newcomer Concordia, the Crusaders stormed out to a comfortable lead then rallied when the Cavaliers battled back to even the match, steam-rolling to victory in the fifth set for a 25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 15-2 win.

"We played really aggressive in the fifth set and I am so thankful we got the five-set monkey off our back," said NNU head volleyball coach Doug English, whose team had lost three five-set matches already this season, all to Top 25-ranked foes.

"Concordia is a very good team and we earned this one tonight," NNU's coach added.

The Crusaders (6-7 overall, 3-2 GNAC) came out on fire as back-to-back kills from Taylor VanValey and Elayna Rice sparked a 10-2 run in the first set, putting NNU on top 11-4 and on route to an early lead.

In the second set, a VanValey kill put the Crusaders up 9-5, a Kendra Bodine kill gave NNU an 18-10 lead, and a Rice kill fended off a late Cavalier comeback in the set as the reigning GNAC champs took a two set to none lead.

Then the Cavaliers (10-3, 2-3) rallied with a finishing 9-3 surge to win the third set and a 6-3 push to finish off the fourth set, evening the match.

But in the decisive fifth, the Crusaders allowed one Cavalier kill and NNU had one hitting miscue, dominating the final set for their first five-set win of the season.

"Madi went off in the fifth set, killing balls and blocking for us," said English as the reigning GNAC Freshman of the Year had four blocks and two kills in the fifth set and finished with 11 kills and 11 blocks in the match.

Rice also had a huge match with 20 kills and 14 digs for NNU, while Bodine added 13 kills and 11 digs, VanValey had seven kills and seven blocks, Linnea Phillips added 19 digs and Hailey Cook dished out 48 assists and added 10 digs.

"Elayna was great tonight and has some huge kills and digs for us," said English, whose team is back in action Saturday, concluding a short road-trip by playing at Western Oregon at 8 p.m. (Mountain Time). 
 
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