NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene volleyball team swept Concordia on Saturday, ending a five-match losing streak in the process.

The Nighthawks won 25-19, 25-22, 25-19 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference match, avenging a sweep by the Cavaliers last month.

"I just think we had amazing energy this time," NNU freshman Tayler Markland said. "We worked on talking together and I think it made a big impact. We worked really hard and we deserved it."

The win came on the heels of a tough five-set loss Thursday to Western Oregon, where the Nighthawks (5-16 overall, 5-9 GNAC) struggled to close out sets and gave up some big runs.

"The biggest difference was the passing," NNU coach Doug English said. "Cami (Heninger), Kayla (Sale) and Shayli (Siegfreid) played great. When we are passing well it just feels normal. That is one way to eliminate big runs as well."

With the victory English now has 112 victories at NNU moving him past Jared Sliger for the second most in program history. Hall of Fame coach Darlene Brasch holds the record for wins with 268.

A big part of the victory was Markland, who had 11 kills on just 14 attacks for a cool .786 attacking percentage.

"If I get a good pass and a good set I try to use it because I want to make them look good," she said. "The passing was amazing and we were clicking really well tonight."

In the first set, the Nighthawks jumped out to a 21-13 lead before the Cavaliers (9-12, 6-8) put together a 4-0 run. A quick timeout calmed things down and then NNU pulled out the victory. It was a marked difference from Thursday's match, where the Nighthawks let the Wolves back into sets.

"We played three really solid sets so that is fun," English said. "We played decent Thursday, so we are getting better and we are in more games. We have six matches left and they are all winnable for us."

Markland's 11 kills were a match high. Heninger added seven kills and 14 digs, Abbey Blum had six kills, Sale had six kills and 12 digs, Shayli Siegfreid had 18 digs, Megan Nelson had 21 assists and Mckenzie Lee had 12 assists.

The Nighthawks hit the road next week, playing at 7 p.m. PDT on Thursday at Saint Martin's and at 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday at Seattle Pacific.