Lopes fall to Princeton in five sets

Thursday, March 23

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-9

Princeton

10-9

Princeton

Grand Canyon

3/23/2017 8:59:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – The GCU men's volleyball team suffered a tough, five set loss to the Princeton Tigers on Thursday night at Antelope Gym. The Lopes had their five-game winning streak snapped by the Tigers, losing by scores of 20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 23-25, and 15-11. GCU made multiple errors on the night and now falls to 14-9 for the season.

"Princeton played well tonight," head coach Matt Werle noted. "Our scouting report was true to form, but we just could not pass the ball tonight. This is the worst our serve and pass game has looked and that can be blamed on mental preparedness."

In the first set, the Lopes looked like they might cruise to an easy win as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning the set 25-20. However, in Sets 2 and 3, GCU struggled to pass and serve and Princeton claimed back-to-back 25-20 set wins.

The momentum turned in the Lopes favor during the fourth set. Shalev Saada and Drake Silbernagel combined for eight kills in the set, leading GCU to a 25-23 win. However, in Set 5, Princeton attacked well and got out to an early lead. Down 13-8, GCU mounted a small comeback, scoring three quick points off kills from Luke Turner and Caleb Blazer, but was unable to climb all the way out of the hole and dropped the set 15-11.

"Princeton did out block us 13 to 10, but we committed 66 total errors and that is on us," Werle added. "We talked all week about taking care of our side of the net and we did not do that tonight."

Silbernagel led the Lopes with 12 kills for the night while Matthew Kinnebrew and Saada reached double-digits with 10 kills each. Michael Milstein recorded 39 assists for the match and also led the Lopes with five blocks. GCU played without starting middle blocker Ashton King due to illness.

Grand Canyon will aim for a better result against Princeton tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in Antelope Gym.