Lipscombe tallies 1000th career kill in victory over Concordia-Irvine

Friday, April 8

Phoenix, Ariz.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

16-11

Concordia Irvine

12-7

CUI

GCU

Lipscombe tallies 1000th career kill in victory over Concordia-Irvine

4/8/2016 8:11:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – After a slow start, GCU pulled away in the final three sets to close out an impressive victory over Concordia-Irvine on Friday evening. The Lopes won by scores of 17-25, 25-19, 25-22, and 25-15. Grand Canyon improves their overall record to 16-11 and will play one final regular season game on Saturday night.

Earlier this season, Grand Canyon was defeated by Concordia-Irvine in straight sets. Head coach Matt Werle noted that it was great for the Lopes to revenge the loss and end up splitting the season series with the Eagles after the four-set victory.

It was a special evening for senior Gerrard Lipscombe. In the third set, the outside hitter knocked down the 1000^th kill of his career. Lipscombe's hometown is in Surrey Hills, Australia and his father, Richard, was able to make the 17 hour flight to Phoenix to watch his son reach the milestone. Lipscombe led all hitters with 22 kills for the evening.

GCU stumbled out of the gates in Set 1. The score was tied at 7-7 before the Eagles began to pull away. Concordia went on a five point run late in the set to extend their lead to 21-14 and the Lopes were unable to recover. GCU committed seven attacking errors with only eight kills and never established an offensive rhythm in the set.

The Lopes began the second set in a much better fashion. GCU jumped out to an early 13-9 lead and refused to let its foot off the gas. Setter Michael Milstein stepped up to run the offense and ended up tallying 36 assists for the night to lead all players. Hitters Lipscombe, Shalev Saada, and Tanner Maxwell all recorded multiple kills in the set en route to a 25-19 win.

In the third set, play was back and forth between the teams. With the set tied at 14 all, sophomore Cullen Mosher came up huge for the Lopes. He recorded three straight kills and then passed the hot hand to Lipscombe. After recording his 1000^th kill to tie the game at 18-18, Lipscombe proceeded to knock down the next five GCU kills. His ninth kill of the set finished the 25-22 victory.

The momentum continued to swing towards GCU in Set 4. The Lopes earned an early 4-0 lead and never relinquished it. As the Eagles appeared to run out of steam, GCU was able to get playing time for all six seniors. Lipscombe, Maxwell, Christian Ward, Kyle Miller, Sean Saxton, and Aquiles Montoya III all hit the floor for the Lopes. The gesture proved prosperous as the seniors were able to shut down the Eagles offense and block three straight attacks to close the set with a dominating 25-15 score.

In addition to the impressive performance by Lipscombe, fellow senior Maxwell also had a great night. He tallied 11 kills and six digs for the match. Sky Engleman paced the defense with nine digs and Ward patrolled the net to lead the Lopes with seven total blocks.

GCU will host Senior Night on Saturday, April 9 before the game against Benedictine-Mesa. It will be the last regular season game of the year, and the last home match for the 2016 season. The contest will begin at 6 p.m. in Antelope Gymnasium.