GCU sweeps first match of the weekend

Friday, January 12

Nashville, Tenn.

2 P.M.

Grand Canyon

4-0

North Greenville

1-2

North Greenville

Grand Canyon

1/12/2018 5:29:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes earn second consecutive sweep

By: Alex Nash

Nashville, Tenn. – The No. 13 ranked GCU men's volleyball team earned their second straight sweep on Friday defeating North Greenville during the first match of Off the Block's Grow the Game Challenge at Lipscomb University. The match saw scores of 25-11, 25-14 and 25-11 with GCU coming out on top 3-0. The win moves the Lopes to 4-0 on the year and North Greenville drops to 1-2.

GCU led in every aspect of the game on the way to earning the sweep. The Lopes recorded 43 kills while committing six errors and had a six aces. The Lopes had a hitting percentage of .578 which is the highest in a single match since at least 2015. On the defensive side, GCU had 26 digs with 8.5 blocks and held the Crusaders to a .070 hitting percentage.

The Lopes saw a deeper rotation in this game compared to last weekend with Zachary Melcher, Jerod Alleman, Avery Enriques and David Kisiel all seeing minutes. Shalev Saada led the Lopes with seven kills in two sets and hit at a .417 mark. Ashton King and Caleb Blazer both hit at a perfect 1.000 while recording five kills. Melcher saw two sets at setter during the match and recorded 25 assists after Puna Kaniho handled the first set with 11 assists. Redshirt Senior Cullen Mosher recorded six kills on the day and led the Lopes in digs with seven. GCU had 10 players record at least three kills and hit over .500.

The first set started off with some back and forth play and a GCU error had score deadlocked at 5-5. From there, the Lopes would use timely blocks and a barrage of attacks to take nine of the next 10 points making the score 13-6. Schwob, Saada and Cody Williams would all tally kills to widen the margin before a Saada ace and a King kill gave the Lopes the set 25-11.

The second set started much like the first but the Crusaders battled to keep the game close at 11-10. Luke Turner, Mosher and Saada would all contribute to GCU landing 14 of the next 18 points and taking the set 25-14. The Lopes would go on to have a quick start in the third set and did not look back. NGU called a timeout with the game at 9-4 before the Lopes used a few 3-0 runs to widen the margin. Melcher had back-to-back aces and kills by Jack Burton and Kiseil led the way before a NGU error ended the set and the match in the Lopes favor.

Looking ahead

GCU will face another Conference Carolinas opponent tomorrow against the Limestone Saints. The Saints took Charleston to four sets on Firday before falling 3-1 bringing their 2018 record to 0-3. The match will be part of the second day of the Grow the Game challenge and is set to start at 3 p.m. MST.