NAMPA, Idaho – Building early momentum and never letting up on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Sports Center, host Northwest Nazarene University handed the Montana State University Billings volleyball team a 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-22) defeat in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
 
The Nighthawks (11-2, 4-1 GNAC) led big early in each of the first two sets, and held off a late push by the Yellowjackets in the third to end the match. "It took us too long to find our rhythm against a tough NNU team," said MSUB head coach Casey Bonner. "We were out of sync in serve-receive, and never fully got our offense going. Olivia (Schwartz) did a great job coming off the bench, and she gave us a ton of energy and offensive production."
 
MSUB slipped to 6-7 with the defeat, and is now 0-6 in league play with its sixth straight loss.
 
Olivia Schwartz was one of the lone bright spots for the Yellowjackets, hitting a career-best .417 with a team-high seven kills and just two errors on her 12 attempts. Hannah Hashbarger finished the match with a dozen assists, while Christine Funk totaled 16 digs to lead MSUB statistically.
 
Olivia Wright led all players with 14 kills in the match for NNU, while Natalie Sullivan had nine and Maren Dent finished with seven. Mckenzie Lee racked up 36 assists, and Caroline McMahon and Dent each reached double figures in digs with 18 and 10, respectively.
 
NNU led 8-1 and 11-4 early in the first set, and the Yellowjackets never got closer than within five points. A 5-0 run by NNU highlighted by two kills from Miya Koch helped extend the lead to 18-8 midway through, and the Nighthawks closed the 25-11 victory with four consecutive points.
 
Set 2 began with a 5-0 run by the hosts, and although MSUB chipped away it found itself in an 11-4 deficit once again. The Nighthawks commanded the flow of the set from there, winning 5 of 6 points in the middle of the set to take an insurmountable 22-9 lead.
 
The Yellowjackets turned things around in the third set, with newfound energy leading to a 12-8 advantage through the first 20 points. NNU battled back, but the 'Jackets kept pace and used two key kills by Schwartz and another from Caty Havekost to maintain a four-point spread up 19-15. A service error followed by three straight service aces by Sullivan tied the score at 19-19 however, and an ensuing 4-0 run by NNU turned the tables and put it up for good 23-20. Wright slammed down the match point, as the Nighthawks rebounded with a win after a four-set loss to Seattle Pacific on Thursday.
 
NNU held a commanding 9-3 edge in blocks, and dialed up 10 service aces compared to just one for the Yellowjackets in the one-sided match.
 
THE BUZZ: Schwartz was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…her previous single-match best in hitting percentage was .350, which she achieved on Sept. 15 against Alaska Anchorage…MSUB is now 10-24 all-time against NNU and is 4-12 in road matches against the Nighthawks.
 
COMING UP: The Yellowjackets get set for a big rivalry match against Rocky Mountain College on Tuesday night, before returning to conference play with home matches against Saint Martin's next Thursday and Western Oregon next Saturday. Live coverage for the upcoming three-match home stand can be found online here.