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Crusaders roll to 8th straight win, top Simon Fraser in four sets

| By: Mike Stetson, Sports Information Director
Box Score

BURNABY, B.C. — Make it eight straight for the Crusaders.

Coming off another huge upset Thursday night, the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team rode that momentum to a convincing road win at Simon Fraser, 25-15, 25-11, 17-25, 25-20 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, extending NNU's unbeaten streak to eight straight.

The Crusaders (13-7 overall, 10-2 GNAC) now return home to host Western Oregon on Thursday night at 7 p.m., the start of a finishing stretch for reigning GNAC champs that will see NNU play 6 of its final 8 matches at the Johnson Sports Center.

NNU started the week with a straight-set win at No. 11 Western Washington on Thursday, handing the Vikings their first GNAC loss of the season.

Riding that moment Saturday in Canada, NNU went to work early as a Taylor VanValey kill snapped a 4-4 tie in the first set and sparked a five-point Crusader run, which VanValey capped with another kill.

NNU's advantage grew to 22-12 on a tandem block by Madi Farrell and Elayna Rice, and a Farrell kill finished off the first-set win.

The second set was much the same as a Jenna Caywood kill put the Crusaders up 6-2, another Caywood kill made it 17-7, and when Rice and Farrell again teamed up for a block, NNU held a two set to none lead.

After the break, the Clan (9-11, 5-7) managed to slow the Crusaders drive to victory a bit in the third set, snapping a 9-9 tie with a 8-1 run of their own to briefly battle back into the match.

But the Crusaders quickly regained control as Kendra Bodine, Farrell and Caywood each had a kill during an opening 7-1 surge in the fourth set, sending NNU on its way to the win.

VanValey led a balanced attack with 15 kills and five blocks for NNU, which also got 13 kills and 10 blocks from Farrell — her third match this season with double-digit blocks — Bodine added 11 kills and 14 digs, and Caywood had 10 kills.

Rice led the defense for the second straight match with a team-high 19 digs, while Linnea Phillips and Jacquelyn Johnson had 15 each, and Hailey Cook dished out 48 assists in the win. 
 
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