GCU clinches home MIVA playoff game with win over No. 10 Loyola

Friday, March 31

Chicago, IL

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Loyola Chicago

GCU clinches home MIVA playoff game with win over No. 10 Loyola

3/31/2017 7:06:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

CHICAGO – The GCU men's volleyball program beat a nationally ranked team for the third time this season on Friday night, defeating No. 10 Loyola in four sets by scores of 27-25, 21-25, 25-21, and 27-25. With the win, Grand Canyon clinches a first round home game in the MIVA playoffs for only the second time in school history. The Lopes improve to 16-9 for the season and move their conference record to 11-4.

"We were very balanced tonight, offensively, defensively, from the service line and making the right play in the big moments," GCU head coach Matt Werle exclaimed. "There are still a couple mental lapses that we must eliminate, but we kept a constant pressure on them and kept them out of system most of the night."

GCU played consistently throughout all four sets of the match. In Set 1, Loyola and Grand Canyon battled back-and-forth until the Ramblers reached a 25-24 advantage and set point. Loyola committed a service error, Cody Williams recorded an ace, and Shalev Saada knocked down a kill to give GCU a 27-25 win.

In Set 2, Loyola jumped out to an early 15-9 lead. GCU fought back into the set, forcing Loyola into a timeout with a 20-17 advantage. Despite two kills from Williams and one from Ashton King, the Ramblers pulled away for the 25-21 set win.

Cullen Mosher led the Lopes in the third set with seven kills. Williams added six kills as the duo helped GCU to a 20-16 advantage. With the Lopes leading 23-20, Mosher knocked down two huge kills to earn the set win by a score of 25-21.

The Lopes carried the momentum into Set 4, holding a 12-7 lead. Loyola capitalized on a few GCU errors to battle all the way back and even the score at 24 all. King then recorded a kill, Loyola committed an attack error, and Saada ended the match with a final kill to give GCU the 27-24 win.

Mosher and Williams both led the Lopes during the contest with 18 kills each. King recorded eight kills and led the team with five blocks. Michael Milstein effectively ran the offense with 51 assists and Sky Engleman paced the defense with ten digs.

Grand Canyon will face Loyola again tomorrow at 5 p.m. MST. The match will be the last MIVA contest of the season for GCU.