SALT LAKE CITY - Northwest Nazarene women's volleyball stood tough in a pair of matches on Saturday, but came up short to both host Westminster and Colorado Mesa by scores of 3-1 and 3-2.

The contests were NNU's first matches against Division II opponents after opening the season at Eastern Washington on Wednesday. The Nighthawks will next head back to the DI ranks with a pair of matches at Idaho State on Feb. 12 and 13.

Westminster 3, NNU 1 (16-25, 25-22, 9-25, 15-25)

The Nighthawks matched Westminster over the first two sets, falling late in set one but rebounding in set two with a three-point victory. NNU hit .375 in the second frame, registering 16 kills and just four errors. Tied at 22 late in the set, the Nighthawks tallied three points in a row to take the win on back-to-back kills from Anna Gable and Brooke Foster followed by a Westminster error.

The Griffins caught fire in set three, however, racing out to leads of 6-0 and 11-1 before taking the 25-9 win. In the final frame, NNU trailed by just four, 17-13, but Westminster scored eight of the final 10 points to take the set and the match.

Foster led the Nighthawks with 12 kills, seven digs, and two aces. Abbey Blum was next with nine kills, while Mckenzie Lee had 24 assists and 12 digs.

Colorado Mesa 3, NNU 2 (25-20, 26-24, 25-27, 10-25, 5-15)

NNU came extremely close to their first victory of the young season in match two, taking the first two sets before dropping a two-point heartbreaker in set three. Colorado Mesa then ran away with sets four and five to steal the win.

In set one, CMU held an 18-14 advantage before NNU rallied to take the frame. The Nighthawks scored six-straight points with Molly Anderson serving, including four kills, to go up 20-18. Colorado Mesa brought it back within one at 21-20, but NNU scored the final four points of the frame for the 25-20 win.

Neither team took more than a three-point lead for the entire second set. A late 4-0 run by NNU made it 23-20 in favor of the Nighthawks, but the Mavericks responded with three-straight to knot the score at 23. Two kills from Natalie Sullivan would give the Nighthawks the set win, taking the frame 26-24.

NNU had a great chance to take the match at the end of set three, leading 23-22 after two CMU errors and a Sullivan kill. The Mavericks then took a 24-22 lead, and the score would be evened at 24 and 25 before CMU tallied twice in a row for the 27-25 win. Colorado Mesa used that momentum to take sets four and five without much trouble, earning the 3-2 match victory.

Sullivan led NNU with 15 kills, while Foster had 10 kills and 11 digs. Lee finished with 22 assists and nine digs, and fellow setter Casey Kispert recorded 16 assists and seven digs.