GCU comes up short against #8 UC Irvine

Friday, January 6

Irvine, CA

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

0-1

UC Irvine

4-0

Grand Canyon

UCI

1/6/2017 9:40:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

IRVINE, Calif. – The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team dropped their first match of the season to No. 8 UC Irvine on Friday night. The Lopes went down in three sets to the Anteaters by scores of 20-25, 19-25, and 27-29. GCU falls to 0-1 for the season while UC Irvine improves to 4-0.

"Irvine played very well tonight," head coach Matt Werle praised. "They showed us a number of different looks and kept us on our heels. They served well and kept their offense well balanced and quick to the pin attackers."

The Lopes were led by a trio of hitters during the matchup. Middle blocker Ashton King led GCU with eight kills on 17 attempts. Outside hitters Shalev Saada and Luke Turner each contributed seven kills and Saada added a team-high six digs.

As a team, the Lopes hit at a .209 clip for the game compared to a percentage of .404 for UC Irvine. Werle attributed some of this difference to first game nerves. Many of the GCU players were suiting up in a Lopes uniform for the first time.

"It was very obvious that we were very nervous which led to tentative contacts," Werle addressed. "It's always good to get the first match out of the way and knock the nerves off. Once we settled in, there were promising moments. We will learn from this, grow and move forward."

In the third set, GCU played their most competitive volleyball. The Lopes jumped out to an 11-7 lead behind three kills from Trent Matthews. Grand Canyon fended off five straight match points before falling 27-29. Matthews recorded all four of his kills during the set.

Drake Silbernagel made his GCU debut and recorded four kills on only seven attempts to lead the Lopes in attack percentage for the night. Libero Sky Engleman notched four digs and setter Michael Milstein added 26 assists for the game.

GCU will travel to La Jolla, Calif. to face the UC San Diego Tritons on Saturday, Jan. 7. The match will begin at 6 p.m.