GCU hosts Senior Day this week


Grand Canyon Lopes (8-16, 3-9 WAC)	vs	NM State Aggies (19-7, 10-2 WAC)	UTRGV Vaqueros (15-10, 9-3 WAC)
		Thur, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. MST	Sat, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. MST
GCU Match Notes		Live Stats Live Video	Live Stats Live Video

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team wraps up conference play hosting a pair of Western Athletic Conference matches this week. On Thursday, the Lopes host NM State at 6 PM. Saturday's match-up is Senior Day as the Lopes host UTRGV at 1 PM.

GCU needs to win both matches this weekend to have a shot at the WAC Tournament on November 16-18 in Edinburg, Texas. The Lopes are two game back of both UTRGV and Seattle in the WAC standings. GCU is in seventh—place as the WAC Tournament takes the top six teams.

The weekend is also big for GCU's opponents. NM State is aiming to clinch the regular season crown and has a one game lead over UTRGV. UTRGV is in second-place, trying to catch the Aggies if NM State was to drop a match.

In addition to facing the WAC leader on Thursday night, the Lopes will be sending out Natalie Tardy in chase of her 1,000 career kill. With eight last week against CSUB, Tardy is up to 998 career kills as she aims to become the fifth Lope ever to reach the mark, and first against NCAA DI competition.

GCU is led by a pair of freshmen in Claire Kovenksy (3.32 kills per set) and Teagan DeFalco (2.83 kills per set). The Lopes are the top serving team in the WAC with 1.37 aces per set.

Maria Adams leads GCU with 1.01 blocks per set and Emma Ahern has a team-high 4.25 digs per set. Hannah Hicks leads GCU with a .272 hitting percentage and Heidi Carpenter averages 5.74 assists.

GCU has had players with 30 double-doubles this season. DeFalco has 12 double-doubles, followed by Kovensky with 11, Carpenter with six and Kayla Redfield with one.

NM State enters the week with an eight match winning streak, including four straight WAC sweeps over UMKC, Chicago State, Utah Valley and Seattle.

Kassandra Tohm leads NMSU with 3.54 kills per set while Tatyana Battle averages 3.13 kills per set.

UTRGV enters the week in second place and has handed NM State one of its two WAC losses this season. GCU led the match at UTRGV 2-1 before the Vaqueros rallied to win in five sets.

UTRGV is led by Steen Ragni Knudsen with 3.62 kills per set while Bojana Mitrovic averages 3.11 kills per set.

The match-up with UTRGV will be a Senior Day match-up as GCU seniors Hannah Hicks, Myria Colley, Jordyn Sanchez, Randahl Powers, Natalie Tardy and Katrice Pond will be honored in a brief ceremony before first serve.

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Players Mentioned

Maria Adams

Emma Ahern

Heidi Carpenter

Myria Colley

Teagan DeFalco

Hannah Hicks

Katrice Pond

Randahl Powers

Kayla Redfield

Jordyn Sanchez

Natalie Tardy

Grand Canyon University Athletics