Lopes Fall to Wolverines in Four Sets

Thursday, October 29

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-17, 2-7

Utah Valley

13-10, 8-2

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Darryl Webb

10/29/2015 10:13:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PHOENIX – Facing off against the second ranked team in conference, the Grand Canyon University women's volleyball team (4-17, 2-7) fell in a hard fought four-set match against Utah Valley (13-10, 8-2).

GCU came out strong in the opening set, leading by as many as five points, but fell short 25-22. They battled back in the second set to earn a 29-27 victory. Utah Valley answered in the next two by winning both sets 25-20.

"I like the way we started out in sets one and two," said head coach Kris Naber. "We came out on the offensive and made things happen instead of reacting to what was happening. Unfortunately, with a young group and the challenging season that we've had, when you come out in the third set and get behind a couple points right off the bat that doubt starts setting in. That's an area where mentally we need to get better at being able to turn that around right away and that's just something that comes with experience."

Leading the squad on offense were Natalie Tardy and Melody Horton. Tardy collected 17 kills off of 37 attempts to earn a .324 hitting percentage. Coming into game off the bench, Horton earned 11 kills for the night with a .200 hitting percentage.

"Natalie and Melody had a nice night offensively," explained Naber. "Natalie came out with a little fire in her game and played with a lot of confidence. Melody came in off the bench and added a spark. She continued to swing aggressively and score points."

GCU tallied 11 service aces during the match, while Utah Valley only had three. Haley Glass led with four service aces, while Jordyn Sanchez contributed three.

"A strong point in our game was that we served really aggressive and were able to get them out their system," continued Naber.

Glass picked up another 18 digs tonight, taking her season total 258 for a 3.79 average. She continues to be ranked second in conference in digs per set. Randahl Powers led in assists, adding 29 to her total. She is ranked sixth in conference and has a 7.11 per set average in conference matches.

"Tonight we saw what this group is capable of," said Naber. "We showed tonight in sets one and two that we can compete with top teams in the conference, what we now need to focus on is learning to maintain that consistency."

"We'll get back in the gym tomorrow and build on what we did in the first two sets and work to sustain that level for the entirety of the match," concluded Naber. "We look forward to our match on Saturday in GCU Arena and we hope that people can join us for the Junior Lopes Clinic following the match. It's open to all ages and we'd love to see as many people out there as possible."

Grand Canyon will take on Seattle U Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. in GCU Arena. For fans unable to attend, links to live stats, live video, and a full recap will be available at www.gculopes.com.