GCU picks up another MIVA win

Friday, March 25

St. Charles, Mo.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

13-10, 6-7MIVA

Lindenwood

4-13, 2-9MIVA

Grand Canyon

Lindenwood

3/25/2016 9:08:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team improved to 13-10 this season after a conference win over Lindenwood on Friday evening. The Lopes won the match in four sets by scores of 25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 25-11. Grand Canyon is now 6-7 in the MIVA.

"This is the first time we've won on a Friday night in a while," head coach Matt Werle stated. "It was definitely a match that we needed to win. We played well enough for three sets to beat them."

Gerrard Lipscombe led the charge for the Lopes with another impressive performance. Lipscombe tallied 15 kills with only one error and added four digs along the way. He also led the team with two aces and added two assists for good measure. The senior now has 266 kills this season, good for fourth-best in the league.

GCU dominated the first set of play as it jumped out to an early 8-4 lead and never looked back. With a 16-13 lead, Ashton King served five straight points to increase the GCU advantage to 21-13. Kills from Lipscombe and Christian Ward, along with a few Lindenwood errors, sealed the first set victory for Grand Canyon.

In Set 2, the momentum swung in Lindenwood's direction. The Lions came out strong as they earned a 10-2 advantage. GCU committed six attack errors in the set and was only able to knock down six kills. The Lopes also struggled from the service line as they committed four serving errors in the set. Lindenwood evened the match after a 25-17 win.

Tanner Maxwell started the Lopes off on a better note in Set 3 as the senior knocked down three early kills to help GCU to a 13-9 lead. GCU continued to battle throughout the set and was tied at 19 all before Lindenwood errors and kills from Saada and Lipscombe helped the Lopes close out the set with a 25-23 advantage.

The Lopes came out on fire in the fourth set. Maxwell and Lipscombe exchanged kills as the duo helped GCU to 7-2 lead early in the set. Grand Canyon never took their foot off the gas and led by as much as 23-9 in the set. A service error by the Lions sealed the four set win for the Lopes.

"After cruising through the first set offensively and blocking fairly well, we decided to take the second set off," Werle noted. "The intermission allowed us to refocus and take care of the third and fourth sets."

Maxwell and Saada both recorded 12 kills during the match. Saada also added seven digs to lead GCU and was followed closely behind by setter Michael Milstein who added seven. Milstein ran the offense efficiently with 38 assists for the night.

"We need to play a complete match tomorrow night, competing from the first point to the last," Werle added.

GCU will face off with Lindenwood again on Saturday night at 5 p.m. The Lopes will then return home for their final MIVA matchups against Loyola Chicago on April 1 and April 2.