Rallies help sweep Redhawks

Thursday, October 31

Seattle, Wash.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

19-4,9-2WAC

Seattle U

10-15,1-10WAC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Grand Canyon	25	28	26	3
Seattle U	22	26	24	0

10/31/2019 8:29:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes prevail in straight sets to secure 5-game win streak

By: Ally Schellhase

SEATTLE, Wash. — The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team gathered its fifth consecutive win on Thursday night by rallying in each set and forcing two extra-point sets in a sweep of Seattle U at the Redhawk Center.

The Lopes (19-4, 9-2 WAC) collected their fifth three-set victory of the season with set scores of 25-22, 28-26 and 26-24 despite trailing 20-14, 17-10 and 22-20 in those sets, respectively. GCU remains alone in second place in the WAC behind New Mexico State (20-3, 11-0).

"We fought very hard tonight," GCU head coach Tim Nollan said. "We had some trouble scoring tonight but found ways to win when push came to shove."

The Lopes started the first set slowly, trailing by five points at the media timeout. GCU senior libero Emma Ahern served a six-point run to put the Lopes in the lead for the first time at 21-20. Sophomore middle blocker Annabelle Kubinski and junior opposite Sarah Hagge each contributed a Lopes kill and junior outside hitter Yeny Murillo clinched the set with the final kill on a Seattle overpass.

The Lopes experienced some déjà vu in the second set by going back and forth with the Redhawks until Seattle pulled away on a seven-point run to lead 17-10. Junior libero Teagan Defalco brought GCU back into the game with a four-point run. A pair of kills from freshman middle blocker Hannah Eskes and two Redhawk errors gave the Lopes the advantage for game point. The two teams battled at the net, but senior outside hitter Melody Horton came in strong offensively with two kills to win the set in extra-points, 28-26.

GCU's momentum carried over to the third set and snagged it a three-point lead, but a five-point run from Seattle would place the Lopes behind again. It wasn't until Lopes sophomore outside hitter Kayla Matthews collected a kill that GCU regained the lead and the went ahead 20-18 on Matthews' service ace. Hagge came back into rotation to grab a kill and a block with Kubinski and the Lopes closed out the match on a Mathews kill and Seattle error.

"Tonight's game showed the resilience of our team in coming back from being down in the first set and taking that momentum into the next two sets to finish off," Eskes said. "The team executed what we needed to in defending well out of system and serving aggressively which led to a sweep."

Hagge led the Lopes with nine kills while Horton added eight kills and Eskes tallied seven kills, giving her two of her top three hitting performances in the past three matches.

GCU closes out the road portion of the regular season on Saturday at Utah Valley. The Lopes and the Wolverines square off at noon (Phoenix time).