Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho — The chance for a bit of revenge started out well then quickly turned sour.

Playing the team that ended their season at last year's NCAA National Tournament, the Crusaders stormed past Dixie State in the opening set of their match Friday afternoon at the Pac West/GNAC Crossover Tournament hosted by Central Washington.

From there it was all Red Storm, though, as Northwest Nazarene fell 14-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20.

"We are having moments and games where we play great and then following those up with not so good games," said NNU head volleyball coach Doug English. "The challenge for us right now is how to play the same volleyball from the beginning to the end of the match and every time we step on the floor.

"We have to get over this fast as we have two tough matches tomorrow and we will keep working to get to where we need to be," English added.

Next up for NNU (2-4) are matches with Fresno Pacific at 1 p.m. (Mountain Time) and Point Loma at 6 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Saturday to wrap up play in a tournament that saw the Crusader steam-roll over No. 21 BYU-Hawaii on Thursday.

That momentum carried over into the first set as NNU built a quick 7-1 lead following a Madi Farrell kill, and never looked back.

But the Red Storm (3-3), who topped NNU in four sets in November of last year at the NCAA National Tournament, turned the match around with a strong start of their own in set No. 2, going up 11-5 on a Taylor Duryea service ace en route to evening the match.

Dixie State used a 7-1 surge in the middle of the third set to take control and grab another win, and in the fourth and final set the Red Storm rallied from 15-10 down to finished off the victory.

Elayna Rice turned in a double-double to lead the Crusaders, putting away 12 kills and adding in 12 digs, while Kendra Bodine had 10 kills and nine digs for NNU.

Linnea Phillips led the defense with 14 digs and Jacquelyn Johnson added 11, while setter Hailey Cook dished out 38 assists for the Crusaders in the match.