The manner in which Valley Christian lost to two-time defending state champion Northwest Christian in the second set of their match Tuesday night to go down 2-0 did not bode well for the duration of said match lasting any longer than a third set.

But what looked to be a rather short one-hour match turned into a two-hour marathon that host Valley Christian pulled off  in stunning fashion by scores of 19-25, 13-25, 25-15, 25-18 and 15-13 in a battle of perennial D-IV title contenders. Northwest Christian entered the week No. 1 in D-IV seedings; Valley Christianentered as No. 10.

"We were looking forward to this match," Valley Christian coach Kayla Cornwell, excited and happily stunned by the outcome, said. "It was the halfway point of our season.  After the second game we looked bad. We reminded them before the third  they know how to play, so get in that mindset, get our game going and do the magic."

Leading the way for Valley Christian(15-7, 9-0 seeding matches)  were hitters Lindy Dyer (14 kills, 33 digs) and Ashley Harrison (10 kills). Kendra Lorbeck added 23 assists and 16 digs and Hannah Johnson chipped in with nine kills and 15 digs.

While she didn't do much damage on the attack side, Lorbeck garnered game most valuable player honors and kudos frmo her coach.

"Kendra came out blazing," Cornwell said. "I could tell she was fired up warming up. She brought a great attitude and played great for us. She gave us some fire."

Northwest Christian (15-2 overall, 10-1 seeding games) came out strong, looking the part of a champion and a team that had lost but one match. NWC dropped VC in a tough first set.

Valley Christian  led 12-11 in the second, but  wilted and was outscored 14-1 the rest of the set mainly due to poor passing and poor serve receiving.

The third set, however, turned Valley Christian's  way as NWC went on cruise control, lost its focus and gave the Trojans room to manuever.

"We put in some subs in the third game," Northwest Christian coach Jackie Switzer said. "Valley came out playing better and all of a sudden there was a change in the dynamics. Itt didn't have anything to do with the subs. We started to scramble, trying to claw to get back. We lost the momentum."

NWC played better in the fourth set, but by then Valley Christian was clicking. The Trojans used a couple of late kills from Harrison and an ace from Lorbeck to send the match to a fifth set.

The start of the fifth set signaled NWC was back to its top-flight form. The Crusadersraced  to a 6-0 lead and were up11-6 when VC called its final timeout. NW junior rightside/setter Alexis Patterson, who led her team and all players in the match with 22 kills (a variety of them) had six in the final set and helped stake her team to the early advantage in the fifth set. Jaci Norwood added eight kills for NWC.

"We told them they dug themselves a hole, now dig yourself out," Cornwell said. "Play with heart and leave it all on the floor."

Aces from Johnson (plus a kill) and Emily Smith and two kiills each from Dyer and Harrison accounted for seven of VC  final nine points. Harrison's final kill was match point.

"We got our first taste of yes we can get bea and we didt," Switzer said. " We had them down and then we gave them hope.  It's a good wake-up call. I'd rather lose a match now  than four weeks from now."