Grand Canyon University Athletics
GCU falls to No. 14 Loyola in first home match
3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
The inaugural men's volleyball season finally had its inaugural home contest.
GCU, after playing 16 times on the road, entertained No. 14 Loyola-Chicago Sunday.
Over 300 fans watched the school's first home event and saw the Lopes fall 3-0 to the Ramblers at Antelope Gym.
"It was an adrenaline rush -- exhilerating," said freshman outside hitter Taylor Griffin -- who led GCU with eight kills -- of having the home fans. "This whole season everyone has been against us. To see everyone go crazy when we did something good was a shock to our system."
GCU (2-15) lost by set scores of 30-23, 30-23, 30-22. Loyola, which beat then-No. 1 Penn State last week, improved to 8-5 overall.
"That's been the story of our season -- inconsistency," said GCU head coach Chad Speer. We do good things then we shoot ourselves in the foot."
The Lopes scored the first-ever point on its home floor, getting a kill by Tyson Crandell from setter Chris Bradshaw.
Loyola followed by scoring 11 of the next 15 points. GCU tied the match, 16-16, on a Griffin ace, but couldn't regain the lead.
GCU was unable to get anything going in the second game, but opened up strong in the third.
A Griffin kill and a Rambler attack error put the Lopes up 2-0. With the score tied at five, Loyola scored four of the next five points and the Lopes weren't able to come back.
"We definitely need to continuing working on our errors," said GCU freshman libero Kyle Norton (pictured), who led the Lopes with 10 digs. "We've been practicing trying to lessen our errors and put the ball away."
The Lopes travel to UCLA Wednesday, then play three more matches at home with Ball State (March 7-8) and St. Ambrose (March 9).
"The crowd was great," said Speer. "I wish we could have got a game and kept them here longer. It was nice to get a home game. Hopefully, they'll keep coming back.
