Lopes continue to roll with win at Seattle

Thursday, October 26

Seattle, Wash.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

8-14, 3-7WAC

Seattle

8-14, 4-5WAC

Grand Canyon

Seattle University

Photo by: Chris Hook

10/26/2017 9:56:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

SEATTLE – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team won its third straight conference match, taking down Seattle on the road 25-21, 25-17, 25-27, 22-25, 15-9 on Thursday night on the SU campus.

"Very proud of our effort tonight," said head coach Tim Nollan. "When we played our brand of volleyball, we can put a lot of pressure on our opponents. Proud of our effort and execution in many phases of the match. We keep getting better and are looking to continue to grow as the season progresses."

With the win, GCU improves to 8-14, 3-7 Western Athletic Conference, moving into a tie for 6^th place with UMKC as the Lopes are battling for a spot in the 6-team WAC Tournament.

Teagan DeFalco had a career-high with 25 kills, adding 12 digs and hitting at a .327 clip. Claire Kovensky finished with 13 kills, 16 digs and five blocks, while Natalie Tardy added 12 kills and four digs. The 12 kills increases Tardy's career kills total to 982.

Heidi Carpenter led the Lopes with 34 assists while Kayla Redfield added a double-double with 15 assists and 10 digs, while adding three aces.

Kendall Gray led GCU with seven blocks.

Seattle was led by Katarina Marinkovic with 22 kills and Anna Palmer with 14 kills.
After spotting SU the first two points of the match, GCU went on a 5-0 run to take its first lead of the match after kills by Maria Adams and Tardy. SU responded with three straight points and led until a kill by Tardy and ace by Kovensky tied the set up at 12-12. GCU went up by three points at 17-14 after a DeFalco kill. GCU was the first to 20 at 20-17 after a block by Gray and Sarah Hagge. Tardy would get the final two kills for the Lopes in the 25-21 win. GCU hit at a .317 clip in the set with DeFalco having nine kills and Tardy with six.

GCU continued to roll in the second set, scoring five of the first seven points and forcing SU to use a timeout. The Lopes would continue to put pressure on Seattle, taking a 13-5 lead and later a 20-10 advantage after a Redfield ace. GCU would cruise to the 25-17 win. GCU hit at a .257 clip in the second set but held Seattle to just .057.

The Lopes started quickly again in the third set leading 5-2 after a block by Adams and Kovensky. Seattle rallied to tie the set up at 8-8, but GCU got a kill from Tardy, sparking three straight points to push the Lopes ahead. The Lopes led 15-12 after an SU error as the Redhawks called timeout. Seattle pulled within 22-21 after a GCU attack error as the Lopes called timeout. Out of the timeout, the Lopes went to DeFalco who got the kill to lead 23-21. Seattle would pull even at 23-23 but Adams set up match point after a kill at 24-23. The Redhawks would rally to win the set 27-25.

Seattle took the first three point lead of the fourth set at 10-7. The Redhawks extended the lead to 15-9 and later 19-10. GCU went on a run late in the set to pull within 20-16 after a Kovensky kill. Melody Horton would get the Lopes within 24-22 after a kill, but the Redhawks would get the final point off a GCU error.

DeFalco gave GCU its first lead of the fifth set at 3-2 after her 24^th kill of the night. Redfield served up an ace and the Lopes led 5-3. Kovensky recorded consecutive kills to give GCU the 9-5 advantage. Ahern served up an ace to put the Lopes up 10-5 and SU called its final timeout. Seattle pulled within 11-8, but a Kovensky kill ended the SU run. GCU would win the fifth set 15-9.

GCU is back in action on Saturday at Utah Valley.