Gordon College Volleyball gave the crowd its money's worth as the Scots battled with former conference foe Eastern Nazarene College tonight in the Bennett Athletic Center, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win back-to-back matches this week and improve to 11-9 (2-3 CCC) on the season.  
 
The Scots and Lions traded tallies for the first five points of game one, with Gordon eventually widening the gap to 13-6 through stellar assists by Ashlyn Gergins and a pair of service aces from Jamie Tafoya. ENC played catch up through some timely kills by Ruth Aguilar (Fr./Tegucigalpa, Honduras), but the Scots closed out the game, 25-15.
 
Coming into the second frame, Gordon looked to keep momentum going with the extra motivation of Mackenzie Hinds inching ever closer to the 1,000 kill milestone, but ENC did its part to maintain possession of the ball and keep the Scots' offense at bay. Determined to surpass the mark, however, the Scots rallied late to usher Hinds to her impressive kill milestone midway through the game. Carrying the excitement of her momentous feat, Hinds followed her celebratory kill with an ace to put the Scots within three late, but the Lions eventually took the game, 25-22.
 
The battle continued in the third as both teams fought to find the edge on a series of multi-point runs, but in the end the Lions closed out another 25-22 game to come within one of the overall match win.
 
After ENC started off game four with a pair of unanswered points, Gordon buckled down and never looked back, using an early six-point run to capture the momentum they needed to book a four-point win and force a deciding fifth set.
 
Clear from the beginning it would be a dog fight until the end, both sides seemed determined to claim victory and found themselves at a 14-14 stalemate. As if prescripted in the record book, though, it was only fitting that Hinds would finish off the victory with a pair of kills to secure the 16-14 game and 3-2 match win for the Scots.
 
Hinds finished with 26 kills on the night, while Gergins quarterbacked the way with 50 assists and Jenny Curtiss earned each and every one of her 31 digs on the marathon of a night. 
 
The Scots have a quick turnaround as they play WPI tomorrow at 8 p.m. on day one of the Cardinal Quad Tournament.
 
Beyond the Box Score

• Mackenzie Hinds brought her career total kills to 1,013 with a season-high 26 tonight.
• Ashlyn Gergins also recorded season-highs in assists (50) and kills (5).
• NEC's Ruth Aguilar played both sides of the ball collecting 15 kills and 15 assists, and moved to fourth place in the NECC with 179 kills.
• The win by Gordon brought to an end the Lions' three-match win streak.