GCU hosts two WAC matches this week

Thursday, September 28

Phoenix, Ariz.

6:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

Photo by: Michael Rincon

9/26/2017 10:50:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Mark Oshidari


Grand Canyon Lopes (5-9, 0-2 WAC)	vs.	Utah Valley Wolverines (6-10, 1-0 WAC)	Seattle Redhawks (4-10, 0-1 WAC)
		Thur, Sept. 28 at 6 p.m. MST	Sat, Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. MST
GCU Match Notes		Live Stats Live Video	Live Stats Live Video

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team returns to GCU Arena for a pair of Western Athletic Conference matches this week. On Thursday, the Lopes host Utah Valley at 6 p.m. GCU hosts Seattle on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Lopes began WAC play last week on the road, falling in a pair of close contests. GCU fell to UMKC in five sets, and dropped a four set match at Chicago State. Teagan DeFalco led the Lopes with a pair of double-doubles to open conference play.

Natalie Tardy enters the weekend with 915 career kills and averages 1.55 kills per set. Tardy is looking to become just the fifth Lope in school history to reach 1,000 kills and the first since GCU's transition to Division I status.

Claire Kovensky leads GCU with 3.26 kills per set. DeFalco adds 2.75 kills per set and is one of five Lopes with double-digit totals in aces.

Hannah Hicks leads the Lopes with a .304 attack percentage while Maria Adams has a team-high 1.00 blocks per set. Emma Ahern leads the team in both aces and digs, while Heidi Carpenter leads GCU in assists.

Utah Valley (6-10, 1-0 WAC) won its WAC opener at Seattle in a sweep. UVU is led by Lexi Thompson with 3.29 kills per set and Madison Dennison with 2.88 kills per set. Dennison is the reigning WAC Player of the Week. UVU's top non-conference win came at home against Long Beach State. The Wolverines were also edged in five against Duke and fell in four sets to both No. 14 BYU and No. 16 Utah.

Seattle (4-10, 0-1 WAC) won both matches last year against GCU with each match going the five-set distance. SU and GCU have one common opponent this season in Eastern Kentucky as both WAC squads defeated the Colonels.

The Redhawks are led by Katarina Marinkovic with 3.70 kills per set and 209 points. Katarina Glavinic adds 1.98 kills per set while Maja Stojanovic has a team-high 0.92 blocks per set.