Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — With each match, and with every win, the Crusaders inch closer to a trip to nationals.

So, it can be expected there might be some anxious moments early on for the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team in its final two matches of the season this weekend.

The Crusaders overcame those anxious early moments and showed off how strong a team they truly are, avenging an early-season loss by steam-rolling past Concordia, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18 at the Johnson Sports Center on Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

"It just shows how hard the girls have worked for the past two months to put themselves in a place to beat a team that really took it to us the last time we played them," NNU head coach Doug English said, as his Crusaders avenged a four-set loss at Concordia back on Sept. 17, NNU's first loss of the season.

And the Crusaders (19-7 overall, 12-7 GNAC) did it after shaking off a slow start as NNU had 12 hitting errors in the opening-set loss, then just 11 miscues the rest of the night.

"We didn't have to say anything," English said of the team's sudden change. "I think everybody knew we hit a lot of balls out of bounds and we weren't at our best in the first set.

"I think (assistant coach) Collin (Hartman) had a really good idea of what to do and who to set at certain times and that really helped Hailey (Cook) and helped our hitters get one on ones.
 

"And our hitters just made better choices."

That allowed NNU to pull away and easily pick up the win after a rough first set that saw the Cavaliers (15-12, 11-8) lead 15-11 on a Crusader hitting error, and 23-20 on another NNU miscue.

Still, the Crusaders hung tough as Mari Thomas kill tied it 18-18, and a tandem block by Madi Farrell and Cook trimmed the difference to 23-22 late in the set before the Cavaliers inched away for the first victory.

Then, it was all Crusaders.

A Thomas kill put NNU up 10-5 in the second set and a Bodine kill made it 22-15 before the Crusaders evened the match on a Concordia service error.

NNU continued to roll in the third set as three Bodine kills, sandwiched around a Cook ace, sparked a 9-0 Crusader run that erased an 11-9 Cavalier lead and sent NNU on its way to a second straight victory.

The fourth and final set wasn't any closer as a Natalie Knauf kill put the Crusaders up 4-0 early, then back-to-back kills from Cami Heninger and Knauf sparked a 6-0 NNU surge that snapped a 15-15 tie.

A Knauf kill closed a 3-0 Crusader run that finished off the win for NNU, which served up eight aces on the night and made 60 digs.

"We won the serve and pass battle tonight, which made them a little more predictable," English said.

Cook led the way with three aces, while adding in 50 assists and 12 digs for NNU, which got 14 kills, nine digs and five blocks from Bodine, and 17 kills and four blocks from Farrell.

Heninger added nine kills and three blocks, Thomas had eight kills and 12 digs, and Shayli Siegfreid added 14 digs in the win.

A win that inches NNU ever so close to the program's third NCAA National Tournament berth as the Crusaders have just one match remaining when they host Western Oregon on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Ranked sixth in this week's NCAA West Region poll, a victory on Saturday would go a long way to securing that national berth for the Crusaders, as the top eight teams in the West Region at the end of the season — which ends Saturday night — earn berths to the NCAA Tournament.

The Crusaders find out their NCAA fate — for sure — on Monday at 5:30 p.m. when the NCAA broadcasts its selection show online at ncaa.com.