Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — It was an epic battle, but in the end the eighth-ranked Seawolves proved to be just a bit too much on this night.

The Crusader volleyball team charged out of the gate strong and battled back, denying Alaska Anchorage as best they could, but in the end Northwest Nazarene fell 25-22, 25-17, 16-25, 25-19 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Saturday night at the Johnson Sports Center.

"You never feel good when you lose, but we're just trying to compete as hard as we can and leave feeling like we did everything we can," NNU head coach Doug English said. "I thought we did mostly everything we can to win this match."

NNU (12-5 overall, 5-5 GNAC) set the tone for a battle early, jumping up 12-7 on a Madi Farrell kill and taking a 19-14 lead on a Mari Thomas kill.
 

But No. 8 Alaska Anchorage made a late run to even the set and eventually took the opener, despite the Crusaders determined start.

The Seawolves (20-1, 10-0) rode the momentum of their first-set comeback to an 18-8 edge in the second set, but the Crusaders showed their determination.

A Kendra Bodine kill cut the difference to 19-13 and a Farrell kill made it 23-17, but NNU couldn't pull off the comeback.

Down two sets to none, NNU went to work on putting together a comeback in the match, snapping a 6-6 tie in the third set with back-to-back kills by Farrell and Thomas in a 4-0 run.

Back-to-back tandem blocks from Farrell and Hailey Cook late then help close out a dominating third-set victory by NNU.

The fourth set proved to be another battle, one that the Seawolves won as they snapped an 8-8 tie with a 5-1 charge that provided just enough breathing room to fend off the Crusaders.

"They did a great job on defense," English said of the Seawolves, "their kids transitioned hard, they put up great balls, they were able to get kills on swings we weren't able to get kills on."

Bodine led the way for NNU's offense with 14 kills while adding in 11 digs, Thomas added 11 kills and 15 digs, and Farrell had 10 kills and seven blocks in the match.

Cook dished out 39 assists and had 12 digs, Shayli Siegfreid made 18 digs and Jacquelyn Johnson had 10 digs for the Crusaders, who are back in action Tuesday at Central Washington.