NAMPA, Idaho – Three times this season, the Northwest Nazarene volleyball team had played a five-set match.
Three times they had lost.

On Thursday, though, the Nighthawks finally broke through behind Tayler Markland, Abbey Blum and Megan Nelson.

NNU held off Seattle Pacific 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-13 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.

"We have had a hard time pulling out fifth sets this season," Nelson said. "So it was fun to watch us work through some of those rough spots and be able to win that fifth set. I think that was really good for our confidence."

NNU started the fifth set strong, leading 8-5 but the Falcons rallied for a 10-9 lead. Rather than getting down on themselves, though, the Nighthawks responded.

Markland had three consecutive kills for a 12-10 lead. After SPU tied it at 12-12, she had another kill and then Blum put NNU on the brink at 14-12. On the final point, Nelson had a beautiful long set and Blum hammered the ball down to give NNU its first home win this season.

"I think that we were trying to take what we did in the past and definitely change it," Markland said. "We definitely got more serious about it. Instead of saying, 'It's OK. It's OK.' We were like, 'We need to fix it right now.' We got really focused and meshed as a team tonight."

Markland finished with 13 kills and a .417 attacking percentage, while Blum had 15 kills and a .344 attacking percentage. Nelson had 37 kills and 14 digs.

"We showed some resilience and were able to play really well," NNU coach Doug English said. "A lot of that is practice and being able to make some plays we couldn't make a few weeks ago."

The Nighthawks (3-11 overall, 3-4 GNAC) have now won two matches in a row and face a struggling Saint Martin's team at 7 p.m. Saturday. Suddenly NNU, which opened the season with eight consecutive losses, has a chance to be .500 in conference.

"We know how hard it is to win," English said. "They are a good team and that was a huge win for us. Some of it is growth, some of it is confidence and some of it is we're getting better and better."

Early on, NNU appeared poised to run away with the match. The Nighthawks won the opener and then jumped out to a 19-12 lead in the second set before letting it get away to the Falcons (7-7, 5-2).

Rather than fold like they had at other points in the season, though, the Nighthawks dug deep and won the third set and then played their best fifth set of 2018.
"We have had our roller coasters," Markland said. "We just put it together. We focused up. It's a really big win."

Cami Heninger added 12 kills and 22 digs, Kayla Sale had 16 kills and 19 digs, Natalie Knauf had nine kills, Shayli Siegfreid had 28 digs and Mckenzie Lee had 24 assists and eight digs.