GCU edged by defending WAC champs in five

Thursday, October 12

Edinburg, Texas

5:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

5-13, 0-6WAC

UTRGV

11-8, 5-1WAC

Grand Canyon

UTRGV

Photo by: Chris Hook

10/12/2017 8:17:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

EDINBURG – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team nearly knocked off the defending Western Athletic Conference champs, but fell at UTRGV 25-20, 26-28, 15-25, 25-21, 15-10 on Thursday night.

"I am very proud of the way our girls competed tonight," said head coach Tim Nollan. "UTRGV is a good team with some very dynamic attackers that pushed our kids to work on defense. We did many things well, including putting pressure on from the service line and passed very well all night. A couple mistakes at crucial parts of the fourth and fifth sets ended up being the difference in the match. Our team continues to get better and we will keep competing."

After dropping a tight first set, the Lopes pulled out a 28-26 win in the second, then dominated the third set to take a 2-1 lead. GCU led midway through the fourth set, but UTRGV squeaked out the fourth win, then pulled away late in the fifth to hold off GCU.

Claire Kovensky led GCU with 18 kills, 21 digs, four blocks and three aces. Teagan DeFalco added 17 kills and 19 digs.

Maria Adams added a team-high eight blocks to go along with four kills. Emma Ahern led the Lopes with 24 digs while Kayla Redfield added a team-high 24 assists. Heidi Carpenter finished with a double-double of 20 assists and 10 digs.

UTRGV was led by Bojana Mitrovic with 21 kills and Barbara Silva with 20 kills.

UTRGV scored five of the first six points in the first set and the Lopes used an early timeout. GCU pulled within 8-5 after a Kovensky ace and DeFalco kill. GCU was within 15-11 after a kill by Adams. GCU used its final timeout trailing 19-13. The Lopes would score six of the next eight points to pull within 21-19 after a Natalie Tardy kill. Out of the Vaqueros time out, Kovensky and Kendall Gray recorded a block to pull within one. UTRGV scored the final four points to claim the set 25-20.

In the second set, a kill by Kovensky pulled GCU within 9-8. UTRGV led until the Lopes tied it at 17-17. With the score tied up at 19-19, UTRGV scored four of five points to lead 23-20. A UTRGV error, followed by a Tardy and Adams block and a service ace by Kobie Dunn tied the set up at 23-23. Another block by Tardy and Adams set up game point for the Lopes. In a long rally, GCU had a couple great swings but unfortunately UTRGV had a couple great digs to pull even at 24-24. The third time was the charm for the Lopes, serving for set point and getting the winner at 28-26 to square the match.

In the third set, GCU scored eight of the first 10 points and led 9-3. The Lopes led 14-8 after a Vaqueros ball handling error. A pair of Sarah Hagge kills increased the GCU lead to 17-9, forcing UTRGV to take a timeout. A kill by DeFalco got the Lopes to 20 first and GCU led 20-12. Kovensky sent down the final kill to give the Lopes the 25-15 win.

GCU took an 8-4 lead after a Kovensky service ace to lead 8-4. UTRGV battled back to tie the set up at 16-16. The Vaqueros took their first lead of the set at 18-17, but DeFalco sent down a kill to even things back up at 18-18. Down 21-18, GCU pulled within 22-21 after a Tardy kill and DeFalco ace. UTRGV closed out the set with three straight points to force a fifth at 25-21.

UTRGV scored the first two points of the fifth set and led until Redfield served up an ace to tie the set at 6-6. The Vaqueros scored the next two points to lead 8-6 as the teams changed sides. GCU scored two quick points after a UTRGV error and Hagge kill to tie it up at 8-8. UTRGV would score the next three points and lead 11-8. UTRGV would end up scoring seven of the last nine points to close out the 15-10 decision.

GCU is back in action on Saturday when it takes on NM State at 12:00 p.m. on the Aggie campus.