LACEY, Wash. - With 14-kill performances from Rebecca Mitchell and Megan Vernoy, including Vernoy's .464 hitting percentage, the Saints forced four sets from 12th ranked Northwest Nazarene Crusaders (25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon.

In the first set, the Crusaders (16-0, 8-0) jumped out to an early 10-6 lead before the Saints (7-9, 2-6) called timeout. Later in the set, kills from Liz Larson, Mitchell and Jordan Keane cut the Crusaders' lead to 19-16. Mitchell recorded two more kills before NNU eventually closed out the set on a kill to take a 1-0 lead.

NNU held the early 13-10 lead before an attack error started a 7-1 run for the Saints, highlighted by two kills from Rachel Gondrezick, a Mitchell kill and service ace from Keane. Gondrezick and Kamille Langford were credited with blocks during the run. The Crusaders stormed back to regain the lead at 19-18; however, the Saints responded once again. Mitchell tied the match with a kill and gave SMU the lead on a kill in the next point. Vernoy and Emily Gooding registered a block to force NNU to call a timeout at 21-19. After trading points to 22-21 SMU, the Saints sealed their first set victory over NNU since 2015 with kills from Gondrezick and an ace by Gooding. 

The Crusaders battled back with a 10-1 run to lead-off the third set. Rebecca Mitchell delivered five kills in the sets; however, the early deficit proved to be too much for the Saints to overcome as they fell 25-16 in the set.

In the fourth and final set, the score was tied up four times at the 5-5 mark. NNU gained the lead at 12-9 before the Saints answered back to regain the lead on a Langford kill at 16-15. The Crusaders used a 7-1 run to regain momentum and closed out the match on three straight kills.

Picking up her 200th kill of the season, Rebecca Mitchell tied with Megan Vernoy with 14 kills to lead the attack for the Saints. Gondrezick tallied nine kills and three blocks while Kamille Langford and Emily Gooding combined for nine blocks. Nicolette Nesbitt (27 assists) and Keane (23) split time at the setter position. Hannah Neumann set a new career-high in digs with 30. 

The Saints hit the road for two matches, first traveling to Western Washington on October 12. Match is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. with live stats and video available at smusaints.com.