Seniors lead GCU to victory in regular season finale

Saturday, April 9

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-11

Benedictine

11-11

BEN

GCU

4/9/2016 8:47:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – GCU finished out the 2016 regular season on a high note with a four-set victory over the Benedictine at Mesa Eagles on Saturday evening. It was Senior Night for the Lopes and all six seniors saw significant playing time throughout the match. Grand Canyon won by final scores 25-22, 25-16, 21-25, and 25-22 and ends the regular season with a record of 17-11.

Seniors Gerrard Lipscombe and Aquiles Montoya III each tallied double digit kills for the Lopes. After knocking down kill No. 1000 on Friday evening, Lipscombe again led GCU with 12 kills. He also recorded a game-high five aces and added 11 digs along the way. Montoya III had a career night with ten kills and seven blocks.

With a new starting lineup, the Lopes got off to a slower start in the first set. GCU battled to a 14-14 tie but was able to pull away in the latter stages of the set. Grand Canyon minimized their hitting errors and recorded 13 kills with only two errors during Set 1. Nearly every player on the court tallied a kill and the Lopes came away with a 25-22 win.

In Set 2, GCU put on a dominating performance. The Lopes jumped out to an early 5-1 lead behind three straight aces from Lipscombe. Senior Sean Saxton later served four points in a row to extend the GCU lead to 10-5. Benedictine was never able to recover while Grand Canyon prevailed to take the 25-16 set victory.

The scrappy Eagles continued to hustle in the third set and were able to capitalize on multiple GCU errors. The Lopes committed nine attacking errors while only knocking down seven kills in the set. Benedictine closed out the set by a score of 25-21.

Rebounding from the sloppy third set, the resilient group of GCU seniors bounced back in Set 4. With the help of four kills from underclassman Cullen Mosher, the Lopes played team volleyball and put themselves up with a 23-20 advantage. Montoya knocked down a big kill and Christian Ward followed it up with the game winning strike two plays later. Grand Canyon ended their regular season with a 25-22 set win.

Tanner Maxwell set for the first time this season and recorded a game-high 33 assists. Ward led all blockers with ten stops and libero Kyle Miller paced the Lopes with 12 digs. Every senior contributed and made the GCU victory even more memorable.

Next up, Grand Canyon will participate in the MIVA Tournament. The Lopes are a No. 5 seed and will travel to play No. 4 Lewis University on Friday, April 15.