Lopes fall to McKendree in five sets

Friday, March 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

6-7

McKendree

10-9

MCK

GCU

3/11/2016 8:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – GCU suffered a tough loss to the visiting McKendree Bearcats on Friday night. The Lopes played their third five-set match in a row and lost by scores of 25-22, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, and 20-18. Grand Canyon fell to 10-9 overall and 3-6 in the MIVA while McKendree improves to 6-7 overall and 4-5 in conference play.

Each set told a much different story during the match. In Sets 1 and 3, the Bearcats held the lead for the majority of the time and recorded 16 kills in each set. However, in Sets 2 and 4, GCU rallied to dominate both sets from beginning to end; the Lopes tallied double-digit kills in each set. Neither team was able to steal momentum in the sets that they were defeated in.

The fifth and final set was the most entertaining and competitive of the entire match. The Bearcats held a 13-9 advantage in the race to 15 points but GCU refused to go down without a fight. Michael Milstein served two straight aces and Shalev Saada knocked down three kills to gain the lead at 18-17. However, the Lopes committed two crucial errors down the stretch and allowed the Bearcats to steal the win.

Senior outside hitter Gerrard Lipscombe led GCU with 21 kills for the match. Saada followed closely behind with 18 kills and middle hitter Christian Ward added eight of his own. The Lopes had a .252 attacking percentage and tallied 57 total kills for the night.

Defensively, libero Sky Engleman paced Grand Canyon with eight digs. Ward and fellow middle Ashton King added eight blocks each. GCU dominated blocking during the game as the team compiled 18 total team blocks compared to only eight for McKendree.

GCU will face off with McKendree again on Saturday, March 12 at 6 p.m. in Antelope Gym. The Lopes will need to minimize errors in order to defeat the rising Bearcats.