Yellowjackets are Halted by the Crusaders

Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene was pressed hard in a 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-21) win over Montana State Billings, Thursday night.  The Crusaders picked up their sixth straight win.  The Jackets remain on the road, taking on Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Nov. 1.  The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

Early in the opening game, the two teams jousted at each other, with neither able to break away.  Jessica Lechner fired the ball through a hole in the Crusader block to close the gap to three, 14-11.  Northwest Nazarene then turned on the pressure, finishing the game on an 11-3 run to take the win.

In game two, the BC connection of Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau frustrated NNU.  The Yellowjackets got out to a quick lead and held it for most of the match.  Down 21-19, Nazarene scored three points to make it 22-21.

Head coach Dana Cordova called a time out to settle things down.  Crotteau came out after the timeout and crushed the ball to tie it up.  The two teams traded kills before the Crusaders came up with back-to-back kills to take the game.  The BC connection combined for 10 kills with just one error.

Game three was more of the same.  Both squads were countering each other.  NNU looked to be trying to put MSUB away, up 19-15.  The Yellowjackets, however, forced the Crusaders into two errors to make it 19-17. Once again the two teams traded points to make it 20-18.  The Crusaders scored three straight points to take control of the game and match.

“We battled back but it just wasn’t enough,” said Cordova.  “We had a rough stretch in the opening game.  It’s tough to come back on a team that plays scrappy like Northwest Nazarene does.”

For Montana State Billings (5-21, 2-10 GNAC), Crotteau had another solid night with 13 kills and 11 digs while hitting .429.  Ashley Welborn sizzled the nets with a .357 hitting percentage.  Jill Trabing collected 10 digs.

Two milestones were reached for MSUB.  Crotteau became the 10th player in school history to record 800 career kills.  She has 812 for the Jackets.  Lechner has now played in 401 games, just the fifth player for the Yellowjackets to reach the 400 mark.

For Northwest Nazarene (15-7, 8-4 GNAC), Amanda Boschma had 14 kills while Cammy Dranginis added 11.