GCU Faces No. 1 Hawai’i and No. 2 Pepperdine

Saturday, March 14

Chula Vista, CA

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Hawai'i

Alex Goodman

3/14/2015 4:07:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

The Grand Canyon University sand volleyball team (2-2) faced off against the two top teams in the country today at the USAV Chula Vista Tournament in Chula Vista, Calif. The Lopes were defeated in both matches with No. 1 Hawai'i (4-0) defeating them 4-1 and No. 2 Pepperdine winning (6-1) 5-0.

"USA Volleyball has a nice facility in Chula Vista, and we appreciate the invitation to come out and play in Southern California," said head coach Jose Lugo. "It's a place where we recruit, which simply adds visibility for our program. It's a wonderful opportunity to play Hawaii and Pepperdine here.They are well coached, and play at an extremely high level, truly two of the elite teams in the collegiate sand game."

They opened their day against Hawai'i. Alex Goodman and Becca Conrad teamed up as the number five pair to take on Ka'iwi Schucht and Hannah Zalopany. They began the match with a close 21-18 win before closing out the victory with a 21-13 win in the second to earn the point for the Lopes.

"We played very well against Hawaii, served and passed well," Lugo continued. "Becca and Alex getting a win against Hawai'i was a great accomplishment for those two, and we had some chances with our second and third pair, as they went the distance against the Wahine."

Both the second and third pairs battled against the Rainbow Wahine in hard-fought three-setters. Molly Turner and Emilee Erichsen fell just short in the opening set, losing 21-18. They made a comeback in the second to force the third 21-15. They were defeated 15-11 in the final set.

At number three, Alex Green and Brooke Razo won the first set over Hannah Rooks and Sammie Brown 21-18. In the second, they fell short 21-19, before dropping the final set 15-10.

GCU went on to face the second ranked Pepperdine for their second match of the day, being defeated in straight sets on all courts.

In the pairs tournament, Grand Canyon had two teams win the first round to advance. Teammates Alex Green and Brooke Razo defeated a pair from TCU 21-10, 21-14, while Molly Turner and Emilee Erichsen took on a pair from Hawai'i to win 21-18, 21-13. Mackenzie Phelps and Shannon Dugan advanced on a bye.

"We had three pairs make the round of 16—our top 3 pairs," said Lugo. "Making it into the quarterfinals would mean some more match-ups with Pepperdine and Hawai'i. It would be fun to play them again and see what we've learned. That has been one of our points of emphasis, learning every time out on the sand, so we need to put ourselves out there and take advantage of another competition opportunity."

The tournament will continue tomorrow in Chula Vista, Calif. A full recap will be available at www.gculopes.com.

No. 1 Hawai'i 4, Grand Canyon 1
Tiegs/Taylor (UH) def. Phelps/Dugan (GCU) 21-12, 21-19
Urban/Speilier (UH) def. Turner/Erichsen (GCU) 18-21, 21-15, 15-11
Rooks/Brown (UH) def. Green/Razo (GCU) 21-13, 19-21, 15-10
Schreiber/Tucker (UH) def. Ausmus/Glennie (GCU) 22-20, 21-15
Goodman/Conrad (GCU) def. Schucht/Zalopany (UH) 21-18, 21-13

No. 2 Pepperdine 5, Grand Canyon 0
Larsen/Woolever (Pepperdine) def. Phelps/Dugan (GCU) 21-16, 21-12
Dykstra/Strehlow (Pepperdine) def. Turner/Erichsen (GCU) 21-12, 21-11
Cook/Knudsen (Pepperdine) def. Green/Razo (GCU) 21-12, 21-8
Asprey/Racich (Pepperdine) def. Ausmus/Glennie (GCU) 21-19, 21-10
Messing/Quiggle (Pepperdine) def. Goodman/Conrad (GCU) 21-15, 21-13

Click here to see the full tournament bracket.