Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Northwest Nazarene volleyball team met before Thursday's match and discussed how they wanted to play.

The Nighthawks wanted to play with confidence.

After falling behind 2-1 to Alaska, they showed that they have every reason to believe in themselves.

The Nighthawks rallied for a 28-26, 21-25, 20-25, 25-15, 15-12 victory to hand the Nanooks their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference loss of the season.

"I think that came through tonight," NNU coach Doug English said. "They stuck with it even when we were down and they stuck with the demeanor and mindset they wanted to play with."

In the second set, the Nighthawks (6-6 overall, 2-3 GNAC) easily could have lost their confidence. Leading 13-12, NNU made four errors and gave up three aces and quickly trailed 19-13. The Nanooks (7-6, 4-1) finished off that set and then won the third set, but the Nighthawks quickly fought back.

Middle blocker Tayler Markland started the fourth and fifth sets on the front left and got some early kills to help jumpstart the offense.

Outside hitters Brooke Foster and Abbey Blum took over from there, with Foster recording four kills in the fifth set.

"Tayler has been really good the last few weeks and we are trying to get her the ball as much as possible," English said. "Brooke and Abbey both did a good job of scoring when they had a chance to score and cutting down on some of the errors they have had the last couple of matches."

Markland finished with 14 kills and three errors for a .440 hitting percentage, while Foster had 18 kills, 15 digs and a .229 hitting percentage.

"To win on the road and to beat a good team like Fairbanks – this is a really good win for us," English said. "They kept working and plugging away whether things were going perfect or not going perfect."

Blum had 14 kills, seven digs and four blocks, while Natalie Sullivan added 15 kills. Megan Nelson had 59 assists and nine digs.

The victory is especially big after the Nighthawks lost in four sets to Seattle Pacific at home Saturday. NNU plays at Alaska Anchorage at 9 p.m. MDT on Saturday.