GCU edged at NM State 3-1

Saturday, October 14

Las Cruces, N.M.

12:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

5-14, 0-7WAC

NM State

13-7, 5-2WAC

Grand Canyon

NM State

Photo by: Michael Rincon

10/14/2017 3:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

LAS CRUCES – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team played well again against one of the conference's best, falling at New Mexico State 19-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 on Saturday afternoon. The Lopes forced the Aggies into 28 attack errors but NM State held off the GCU charge.

"I am proud of our defensive effort," said head coach Tim Nollan. "New Mexico St. has some very dynamic attackers and did a good job of slowing them down and holding them to a .196 attack percentage. We need to keep working on closing out sets. Our team is getting better with each match and getting closer to where we want to be. Monday we get back at it to keep trying to get better."

The Lopes had a balanced attack, led by Teagan DeFalco with 12 kills and 13 digs. Natalie Tardy added 10 kills, while Sarah Hagge finished with nine kills and four digs.

Claire Kovensky added eight kills and 23 digs, while Maria Adams finished with six kills, hitting at a .500 clip.

Emma Ahern finished with 13 digs, while Heidi Carpenter had 23 assists and Kayla Redfield added 20 assists and eight digs.

NMSU was led by Kassandra Tohm with 21 kills and Sasha-Lee Thomas with 14 kills.

GCU opened the match with six kills in eight attempts to take a 9-6 lead. The Lopes would add a 6-0 run after a Sarah Hagge kill to lead 15-9 at the media timeout. The run would increase to seven straight after a DeFalco kill. After GCU pulled ahead 20-12, the Aggies scored four straight to cut the deficit in half. GCU would get consecutive kills by Kendall Gray and Hagge to give the Lopes a 25-19 set one win. The Lopes hit at a .414 clip in the opening set.

In the second set, the Lopes and Aggies were tied at 7-7. NMSU would put together a run to lead 15-10. GCU pulled within 18-16 after a pair of NMSU errors. Kovensky served up an ace to get GCU within 23-22, but NM State held off GCU for the 25-22 win.

In the third set, the Aggies led early but GCU came back to tie up the set at 13-13. NMSU would score five of the next seven points lead 18-15 and the Lopes called timeout. GCU responded with three straight points to tie it after a Hagge kill and two NMSU errors. GCU took a 20-19 lead after a kill by Tardy. Tied at 21-21, NMSU scored three straight and would win the set 25-22.

GCU led 7-6 in the fourth set after a Kovensky kill. The teams were tied at 11-11 after a Gray and Tardy block. NMSU would go on a 4-0 run and lead 17-13, forcing the Lopes to use a timeout. The Aggies would hold off the Lopes the rest of the way and claim the 25-18 win.

GCU is back in action next week when it hosts Chicago State and UMKC in GCU Arena.