Lopes continue to roll with sweep

Saturday, January 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

8-2

Ottawa (Ariz.)

3-4

OUAZ

Grand Canyon

1/27/2018 8:28:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

GCU improve to 8-2 with a 3-0 win over OUAZ behind Cullen Mosher aces

By: Alex Nash

PHOENIX – No. 11 Grand Canyon University men's volleyball team won their second match in as many nights with a sweep over in state foe Ottawa (Ariz.) on Saturday night in Antelope Gym. The Lopes earned the sweep by scores of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-20. The win bumps the Lopes to 8-2 on the year while the Spirit fall to 3-4.

"I am glad that we won in three." Stated head coach Matt Werle. "It is important as we grow this season, we win matches quickly when we have the opportunity to. I must give OUAZ credit, they play a scrappy style of volleyball that extended a lot of rallies and forced us to find a way to terminate."

The scrappy style of play did keep the Spirit in the match as the two teams fought a close battle most of the night. Overall the Lopes led in kills (36), aces (9), blocks (8) and assists (33). The two sides tied in digs with 27.

The Lopes had six players hit .300 or better on the night, led by Cody Williams who had a team-high nine kills and hit .500 in two sets. Cullen Mosher also had an impressive night that included eight kills, a .412 hitting percentage and a career high five aces. Will Schwob followed up his productive night from Friday with six kills and five digs in two sets. Ashton King and Alex Shmelev shared the lead in blocks with four while Schwob and Williams led in digs with five.

Set one saw both teams use runs to pull ahead until the set came to a 14-14 tie. GCU then used another run to pull ahead by four before the Spirit cut the deficit back down to two. Schwob recorded a kill and setter Zachary Melcher served up an ace before an OUAZ error and a kill from Williams gave the Lopes the set, 25-20.

The second set had GCU up early as the Lopes scored seven of the first 10 points. The Spirit didn't stay down and battled back to bring the score to 15-12 before Mosher landed a kill and got to the service line. The redshirt senior's run started with a kill from Williams before four aces in a row gave the Lopes a ten point lead. With the aces coming in bunches for GCU it was fitting that an OUAZ service error would end the set and give the Lopes a 2-0 match advantage.

The final set saw some new faces with David Kisiel seeing action and setter Onur Cukur making his GCU debut. On Cukur's first touch as a Lope the freshman served up an ace in the corner of the court picking up right where the Lopes left off in set two. After the start OUAZ would find a rhythm and go up on the Lopes 14-17. GCU capitalized on a couple of errors followed by kills from Kisiel and Jack Burton to take back the lead. The Lopes would go on to score seven of the next nine points including another Mosher ace and wrap up the sweep with a 25-20 set win.

"I am happy that we got a number of guys some on court experience in front of our home crowd." Said Werle. "They need to learn to play in a high intensity environment and I thought they handled it well."

Looking ahead

GCU will hit the road again this weekend for two familiar MIVA foes. First the Lopes will travel to St. Charles, Mo. for a matchup against Lindenwood on Feb. 2 before going to Lebanon, Ill. to face McKendree on Feb. 3. Both matches are set to start at 6 p.m. (MST).