Box Score

BURNABY, B.C. — It was a frustrating start to the weekend on the road for the Crusader volleyball team.

Down early, Northwest Nazarene never found its rhythm against host Simon Fraser, falling 25-21, 25-18, 25-15 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play in Canada on Friday night.

Kills came few and far between for the Crusaders (11-3 overall, 4-3 GNAC), who got one each from Madi Farrell, Mari Thomas and Kendra Bodine in an opening 10-3 run by the host Clan.

A Thomas kill followed by a tandem block by Thomas and Farrell got the Crusaders as close as 22-21 down before the opening-set comeback came up short.

A solo block by Farrell did put NNU on top briefly, up 14-12, in the second set, but a 10-1 charge by the Clan, aided by three Crusader hitting errors, put Simon Fraser comfortable in control, on top 22-15.

The third set proved to be more of the same as the Clan (13-2, 6-1) jumped up 4-0 and never trailed, though a tandem block by Cami Heninger and Kari Staples got NNU as close as 8-6 down, early.

Thomas led the offense for NNU with seven kills, while Bodine and Farrell added six kills each for a Crusader attack that had 24 kills in the match and 22 hitting errors.

Farrell added seven blocks defensively, while Shayli Siegfreid led the way in the back row with 11 digs. Jacquelyn Johnson added 10 digs and setter Hailey Cook dished out 23 assists for NNU.

The Crusaders next play at No. 20 Western Washington at 7 p.m. (Pacific time) on Saturday night.