GCU serves up a sweep over Kansas City

Saturday, October 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

12:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

7-14, 2-7 wac

UMKC

7-15, 3-6 wac

Kansas City

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Michael Rincon

10/21/2017 2:19:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team cruised to a 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 sweep over Kansas City in Western Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon in GCU Arena. With the victory, the Lopes have started the second half of conference play with an unblemished 2-0 mark.

GCU set the tone in the first set by hitting at a .370 clip. The defense stepped up and forced UMKC into 24 attack errors.

Claire Kovensky led GCU with 13 kills on .303 hitting. She also added seven digs and a pair of blocks.

Teagan DeFalco was also efficient with 10 kills, eight digs and three aces.

Natalie Tardy added eight kills and a block, increasing her career kills total to 970. The senior has five more matches to become just the fifth player in school history with 1,000 kills, trying to become the first to do it against NCAA DI competition.

Emma Ahern led GCU with 14 digs, while Kayla Redfield finished with 16 assists, five digs and three aces. Heidi Carpenter added 15 assists. Kendall Gray led GCU with three blocks, including a pair of solo blocks.

Kansas City was led by Alicia Harrington and Alex Ratzlaff with eight kills apiece.

With the win, GCU improves to 7-14, 2-7 WAC, while UMKC drops to 7-15, 3-6 WAC.

In the first set, UMKC led 9-6, but GCU scored six straight points, including three aces by Redfield to swing the momentum and set the tone as the Lopes went ahead 12-9. With UMKC within 20-17, GCU got a kill by Sarah Hagge and a block by Gray to go up 22-17. DeFalco followed with consecutive kills to set up game point. GCU went to its senior, Tardy, for the final kill at 25-18.

In the second set with GCU down 10-8, the Lopes went on a 7-0 run off DeFalco's serves. Kovensky and Tardy tallied kills in the stretch as GCU led 15-10. The Roos would pull within two points multiple times, the final time coming at 20-18. DeFalco sent down two more kills, along with a pair of UMKC errors to set up game point. GCU recorded the final clinching point on a Roos error.

GCU scored five of the first six points in the third set, including a pair of blocks by Maria Adams. UMKC pulled within 7-6 to force GCU to call an early timeout. The Lopes scored four straight, capped by a Sarah Hagge kill to lead 11-6. GCU would lead 22-16 after another Hagge kill. UMKC put together a late run but it was too late as DeFalco slammed home the match winning kill at 25-21.

Grand Canyon is back on the road next week, its final conference road trip of the season. GCU will travel to Seattle on October 26 and Utah Valley on October 28.