GCU nets WAC win over Chicago State

Thursday, October 19

Phoenix, Ariz.

6:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

6-14, 1-7 wac

Chicago State

10-14, 1-7 wac

Chicago State

Grand Canyon

10/19/2017 8:29:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team started off the second half of conference play with a 31-29, 25-16, 21-25, 25-13 win over Chicago State on Thursday night in front of 1,007 fans in GCU Arena.

"We were really good on the offensive side of the ball tonight," said head coach Tim Nollan. "We hit .317 as a team, we had great contributions from Claire and Natalie Tardy. Teagan went down in the first set but rallied back to have great numbers too. I put Melody in when Teagan went down and she stepped in without missing a beat."

GCU was led by Natalie Tardy with 15 kills, pushing her career total to 962 kills. Claire Kovenksy added 14 kills and nine digs. Melody Horton and Sarah Hagge finished with nine kills apiece.

Maria Adams finished with nine blocks, while Emma Ahern led GCU with 14 digs.

"It's nice to see how we've progressed and we continue to get better each week," said Nollan. "Our defense was great last week and good tonight, but we finished our defensive plays with transitional attacks."

Chicago State was led by Lauryn Dela Cruz with 22 kills and Summer Farris with 14 kills.

The first set was close throughout, with the largest lead belonging to Chicago State at 19-15. GCU would fight off a pair of set points, down 24-22, tying it after a Kendall Gray kill off a free ball. GCU would have two attempts at set point and it was the third time being the charm. Tied at 29-29, Melody Horton gave the Lopes the lead and Maria Adams and Heidi Carpenter finished off the set with a stuff, 31-29.

GCU hit at a .407 clip in the second set and scored six of the final seven points of the set to pull away 25-16. CSU hit at a negative .057 clip in the set. GCU had four blocks in the frame.

The third set saw CSU lead 10-7, with the Lopes taking the lead 14-13 after a pair of CSU errors. The set was tied at 17-17, but the Cougars scored four straight points and would not look back, taking the set 25-21.

GCU hit over .400 (.423) again in the fourth set, leading to the 25-13 win. GCU ended the match scoring 10 of the final 13 points, which included a stretch of six blocks. Adams was part of four blocks in the set as GCU landed its first WAC win of the season.

GCU improves to 6-14, 1-7 WAC, while Chicago State drops to 10-14, 1-7 WAC.

GCU is back in action on Saturday when it hosts UMKC at noon in GCU Arena.