Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusaders were down right scary Saturday night.

In front of a home crowd of more than 600 fans, many dressed in costumes for Halloween, the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team was decked out and looking like its GNAC championship self, rolling to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-15 victory over visiting Concordia at the Johnson Sports Center.

"I think what was going right is we came in really focus," NNU head volleyball coach Doug English said. "We served really, really well, which took them out of system, which allowed our blockers to get in a good spot and allowed us to block and dig really well."

Good defense allowed the Crusaders (15-7 overall, 12-2 GNAC) to pull away quickly in the first set, giving setter Hailey Cook the opportunity to dish out balls to Taylor VanValey and Elayna Rice for big kills.

A VanValey kill made it 6-4 and ignited a 6-0 run that saw Rice added two more kills in the surge.

Jacquelyn Johnson also had an ace for NNU, one of three on the night for the tough-serving Crusaders.
 

A tandem block by Madi Farrell and Rice stretched the NNU advantage to 21-12 late in the opener, and a Cook kill finished off the first-set win.

A Rice kill, followed by three straight from Kendra Bodine, got NNU rolling in set No. 2 and off to an 8-3 edge, a lead the Crusader never relinquished as a Jenna Caywood kill made it 19-13, and a late Rice kill followed by a Farrell and Cook tandem block finished off set No. 2.

In the third and final set, NNU's blocking set the tone as a Rice solo block made it 7-2, a VanValey and Farrell tandem block pushed NNU in front 10-2, and a Farrell and Rice block — the Crusaders fifth block early in the set — made the score 13-4 in the Crusaders favor.

From there, NNU easily finished off the sweep, getting a big night from senior outside hitter, Rice, who led the way with 13 kills and 10 digs after having led the Crusaders in dig the previous three matches.

"It felt a lot better," Rice said of her all-around performance, which included six blocks, as well. "I've kind of been struggling with it, so it kind of felt good to just get out and just be able to get some kills and be able to get back to where I was."

NNU's libero, Linnea Phillips, led the team in digs with 15, while Cook dished out 33 assists, each drawing praise from Coach English.

"I thought Linnea did an awesome job in the back row, came up with a ton of digs, and Hailey set great, too," he said. "She followed the game-plan like she was suppose to and put our hitters in really good spots."