BURNABY, BC – Simon Fraser University lost in four sets to Northwest Nazarene Crusaders Saturday night for the 2nd time this season, losing the match 15-25, 11-25, 25-17, 20-25 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball action.
NNU, came in as the top team in the GNAC, and stayed in the #1 spot, now with a 10-2 conference record. Simon Fraser sits at 5-7.
SFU took their time in warming up for tonight's match. The first set was a struggle to get kills against the Crusaders, with
Devon May only leading with 3. Tough defense on the Clan side left NNU's leading attacker, middle blocker Madi Ferrell, with only 4 kills as well. But SFU was out-blocked by Northwest Nazarene 14 to 3, and lost the set 15-25.
Set 2 didn't look much better for the Clan. With 4 more kills each from hitters
Devon May,
Emma Jennings and
Christine Howlett, the offense was not enough against the 20 more blocks from NNU's trio of Ferrel, Taylor VanValey and Elayna Rice. The Crusaders quickly took the set 25-11.
A ten-minute intermission proved successful for SFU as they came out a whole new team in Set 3. When they were finally able to put a stop to NNU hitters with 12 blocks thanks to
Tessa May, Jennings and Howlett, they took the set from the Crusaders 25-17. The May sisters put away 8 kills each that set alone while
Alison McKay dominated the back row with 16 digs.
Unable to carry their momentum through, SFU dropped Set 4 with a closer score of 20-25. NNU outside hitter Kendra Bodine gave her team a total of 11 kills, just under Ferrell with 13. Freshman
Tessa May finished the match with 12 total kills, McKay with 24 digs and
Tamara Nipp leading with 23 assists.
The Clan will take on the Western Washington University Vikings this Tuesday night at 7 PM in West Gym.
-- @SFUClan --