Lopes fall to Arizona in final match of tournament

Saturday, April 1

Tucson, Ariz.

1:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

Arizona

4/1/2017 7:38:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

By: Lisa Amsler

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Grand Canyon beach volleyball team fell to the highly anticipated Arizona Wildcats on the second and final day of the Spring Challenge, facing their first and only loss of the weekend.

The Lopes went into the match optimistic with two victories under their belt, having defeated Santa Clara and CSU Bakersfield the previous day. Even though the Lopes were unable to top the No. 8 ranked squad, their performance proved they would not go down without a fight.

The No. 3 and No. 1 pairs were taken down in two quick sets each to start off the match. Jessica Stansfield and Rebecca Conrad were defeated 21-15, 21-10 while Tjasa Kotnik and Molly Turner put up a solid fight on Court 1 before just barely falling 21-19, 22-20.

Hannah Towne and Jordyn Sanchez followed up the narrow heartbreaking loss with the first of three triple-set matches. The No. 3 pair came out of the gates with a powerful victory in the first set, but couldn't maintain their momentum and fell behind 21-14, 15-9 in the final two sets to give Arizona their 3-0 lead.

The Lopes claimed a strong win on Court 4, with Jessica Clark and Kelli Iverson winning a high-scoring three-set match. Despite losing 20-22 in the first set, the outstanding pair bounced back quickly for a seemingly effortless 21-15, 15-6 victory on the final two sets to close the Lopes' sole point of the match.

Emily Reinking and Tyanna Roy continued to rally on Court 5, coming within two points on the first two sets. The duo was narrowly defeated 21-19 in the first set and after turning things around in set two to win 25-23, Reinking and Roy came up short with a score of 15-9 in the third and final set.

The Lopes (14-4) will head to Malibu, Calif. next to take on Pepperdine and Long Beach State on Wednesday, April 5.

GCU 1, Arizona 4
1. McKenna Witt/Madison Witt (ARIZ) def. Tjasa Kotnik/Molly Turner (GCU) 21-19, 22-20
2. Olivia Hallaran/Olivia Macdonald (ARIZ) def. Hannah Towne/Jordyn Sanchez (GCU) 13-21, 21-14, 15-9
3. Hailey Devlin/Sam Manley (ARIZ) def. Jessica Stansfield/Rebecca Conrad (GCU) 21-15, 21-10
4. Jessica Clark/Kelli Iverson (GCU) def. Mia Mason/Kendra Dahlke (ARIZ) 20-22, 21-15, 15-6
5. Brooke Burling/Halli Amaro (ARIZ) def. Emily Reinking/Tyanna Roy (GCU) 21-19, 23-25, 15-9