GCU tops KC for WAC finals spot

Friday, November 22

Orem, Utah

3:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

24-5,13-3WAC

Kansas City

17-10,12-4WAC

Kansas City

Grand Canyon

11/22/2019 7:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes beat Roos for 3rd time, reach 1st title game

By: Ally Schellhase

OREM, Utah – The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team secured a spot in Saturday's WAC Tournament championship match after defeating Kansas City in a four-set thriller that concluded in extra points on Friday night.

The second-seeded Lopes (24-5) beat the third-seeded Roos at Lockhart Arena with set scores of 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 and 28-26. GCU will play No. 1 seed New Mexico State at 7 p.m.(Phoenix time) Saturday for the WAC Tournament title and an NCAA tournament berth.

"I am really proud of the team's perseverance tonight," GCU head coach Tim Nollan said. "We held up our team's core values of commitment, grit and discipline. We had some difficultly offensively, but I am extremely proud of our team's grit and ability to come back attacking to win."

Lopes senior outside hitter Melody Horton played a key role, notching her 11th double-double of the season with a season-high-tying 17 kills and 10 digs. Freshman setter Klaire Mitchell recorded 47 assists and junior libero Teagan DeFalco topped her season high with 31 digs. Junior outside hitter Yeny Murillo and sophomore middle blocker Kaira Moss had 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

Kansas City (17-11) came out swinging to win the first set 25-21 on a .349 hitting percentage. GCU trailed by no more than four points for the entire set but was unsuccessful in grabbing the lead.

The second set evened out for the Lopes with 12 ties and five lead changes. GCU captured the lead at 14-13 and didn't let it go. Sophomore middle blocker Annabelle Kubinski had a .500 hitting percentage for the set and nailed two kills to force a Kansas City timeout at 18-15. Senior defensive specialist Emma Ahern aced the Roos and kills from Horton and Murillo gave the second set to the Lopes.

The third set started slowly for GCU but blocking made the difference as four Lopes had two or more blocks, helping keep Kansas City to its lowest set hitting percentage of the night at .171. A block assist from freshman middle blocker Hannah Eskes and Kubinski shook Lockhart Arena and gave the Lopes a 13-11 edge. Kubinski bounced a kill before a block assist from Horton and Moss closed the set and gave GCU the match lead 2-1.

The competition heated up in the fourth set as the teams remained tied until block assists from Moss and Murillo, plus a Roos service error, put the Lopes in front 15-13 at the media timeout. The lead didn't last long as Kansas City swooped in with a pair of kills, while two GCU attacking errors gave the Roos a three-point advantage. Kills from Horton, Moss and Murillo sprung the Lopes back in the lead 24-22. The Roos managed to tie the score at 25-25, forcing the game into extra points. A solo block from Murillo and a Kubinski kill pushed the Lopes to the match-deciding 28-26 victory.

"This was such a strong team win and everyone contributed both off and on the court," Horton said. "Kansas City made us work hard offensively and defensively and it came down to a couple of game-changing plays that went our way. We play to have fun and now we get to play for a WAC championship ring."

GCU returns to Lockhart Arena on Saturday to play in the WAC Tournament finals at 7 p.m. against top-seeded New Mexico State (25-3). The Aggies won their 18th consecutive match in the other Friday semifinal, a 25-12, 26-24, 25-21 sweep against fifth-seeded tournament host Utah Valley. During its 16-0 WAC season, NMSU was taken to five sets once (California Baptist). The Lopes and the Aggies are two of 16 teams in the nation with at least 24 wins this season.