Lopes fall in four to Mustangs

Friday, September 16

Sacramento, Calif.

4:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-6

Cal Poly

5-4

Grand Canyon

Cal Poly

9/16/2016 6:28:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

SACRAMENTO – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team got a combined 33 kills from Katrice Pond and Natalie Tardy but it was not enough as Cal Poly defeated GCU 25-16, 25-19, 20-15, 25-13 on Friday evening at The Nest on the Sacramento State campus.

Pond finished with a career-high 18 kills, while Tardy added 15 kills, hitting at a .412 clip. Despite being down 0-2 in the match, GCU hit .419 in the third set and won, forcing the fourth. CP hit at a .500 clip in the fourth to seal the match.

Randahl Powers added nine kills for GCU, while Heidi Carpenter finished with a team-high 38 assists and two aces. Sara Westerman led the Lopes with seven digs. Hannah Hicks finished with a team-high five blocks.

"I thought we competed well tonight and executed at a high enough level in the third set to win," said head coach Tim Nollan. "We need to continue to see if we can execute at this level for longer stretches throughout matches."

The Lopes started strong scoring four of the first six points, getting kills from Pond and Tardy as Cal Poly called an early timeout. Pond sent down a kill after CP pulled within one and GCU held a 14-12 advantage. The Mustangs would score five straight to pull ahead 17-14. CP kept the pressure on and took the first set 25-16.

With the second set tied at 8-8, Tardy gave GCU the lead, followed by a CP error to push the Lopes ahead 10-8. GCU and CP were tied up at 14-14 before the Mustangs scored on consecutive kills to lead by two. CP upped the lead to four points after a GCU attack error to lead 18-14. The Mustangs won the second set 25-19.

The Lopes did not go down without a fight, leading 9-5 in the third set after kills by Pond and Powers. Pond would add a solo block to push the Lopes ahead 15-10. Powers got the Lopes to 20 points first, putting down a kill and GCU led 20-16. Powers gave the Lopes set point after a kill to lead 24-18. Tardy got the set ending kill through the block and the Lopes won 25-20. GCU hit .419 in the set.

CP took the early lead in the fourth set, leading 7-4 after a GCU attack error. GCU pulled within 10-8 after a Hicks block, but CP scored four of the next five points to lead 14-9. CP would prove too much down the stretch and took the fourth set 25-13.

Grand Canyon returns to action tomorrow for day two of the Sacramento State Tournament. The Lopes take on the Hornets at 12 PM and the Wolf Pack at 5 PM.