Box Score RIVERSIDE, Calif. – From the beginning Northwest Nazarene was clicking on all cylinders and never relented as they posted a 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-11) victory over Azusa Pacific on Saturday morning.

The match wrapped up the GNAC-PacWest challenged for the Cougars. The three-day event was hosted by Cal Baptist where Azusa Pacific went 1-3. 

Andrea Terpstra had a match high 14 kills on Saturday while posting a .571 hitting percentage. Elayna Rice chipped in a 10-kill morning. As a team they had 47 kills on 90 swings with just 11 errors (.400 hitting percentage) in getting the three-set win.

The Crusaders posted 17 kills and hit .640 in the first set. The Cougars were limited to consecutive points on just one occasion as Northwest Nazarene grabbed the first set. 

Very early in the second frame the Cougars won four of the first five points but they couldn't sustain that early momentum. Northwest Nazarene scored six unanswered points as they took a 7-4 lead. Despite falling behind the Cougars stayed within striking distance and they eventually retook the lead at 16-15. However that lead was short lived as the Crusaders won the next seven points as they proceeded to win the stanza.

Tied at 8-8 in the initial stages of the third set, Northwest Nazarene put any hopes of a Cougar comeback away. The Crusaders didn't commit any sort of error the rest of the set as they recorded 10 kills in posting the three set sweep.

Mattie Shelford had a team best six kills for the Cougars. Kristina Kam's run of seven straight matches with at least 10 digs came to an end even though she had a team high eight.

Azusa Pacific opens the home portion of their schedule on Friday evening against Holy Names at 7 p.m.