Lopes aim to stun more at WAC

The WAC women's volleyball coaches did not believe Grand Canyon would be good enough to be at the conference tournament this season.

The Lopes are more than a qualifier. They are a contender as they enter a 3:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) WAC Tournament semifinal as the No. 2 seed against No. 3 seed Kansas City.

GCU (23-5) is one of four teams in the nation to improve its win count by at least 12 from last season, making the Lopes one of 18 teams in the nation with at least 23 wins this season. The Lopes earned a first-round tourney bye for the six-team conference tournament at Utah Valley by going 13-3 in conference play.

"Being ranked seventh was definitely a motivation for us — thinking that we're not even good enough to make the tournament," Lopes junior opposite Sarah Hagge said of the WAC preseason poll prediction for GCU. "Our team has a lot of confidence and we're really excited going into this tournament."

Kansas City (17-9) lost in four sets twice this season to the Lopes, who have variance in skills, ways to win and standouts.

GCU sophomore middle blocker Kaira Moss was named to the All-WAC first team with 1.1 blocks per set while another Lopes sophomore middle blocker, Annabelle Kubinski, ranks 15th nationally with .405 hitting to land on the All-WAC second team.

GCU junior libero Teagan DeFalco is the key to ball control with 4.38 digs per set and fifth-year senior outside hitter Melody Horton is second in points. Junior outside hitter Yeny Murillo arrived at GCU this year from Arizona Western College with power that translated to 2.93 kills per set.

Another key Lopes newcomer, freshman setter Klaire Mitchell, averages 9.56 assists per set to join Kubinski on All-WAC second team and win WAC Freshman of the Year.

"Klaire controls the pace of our offense," GCU head coach Tim Nollan said. "Everything we do goes through her, at least when we do it right. Having her on the floor has been an incredibly steadying influence on the team."

If GCU can advance to the WAC Tournament championship game with a NCAA tourney bid on the line, it likely would faces top-seeded New Mexico State. The Aggies (25-3) went undefeated in conference play but the Lopes were not at full strength in either meeting.

"We've been really, really good in close sets," Nollan said. "The team believes that they can beat anyone on any given night. They don't care about odds or stats or if they're down 2-1 or 24-20. That stuff doesn't faze them. We've been really good at compartmentalizing the game. They've played really fearless."

And the Lopes have played with joy, making the ride all the more enjoyable for the coaching staff. That holds true this weekend in Orem, Utah, where they get to prove the conference wrong with a tournament appearance that was not forecast.

"Every pregame I close with, 'Make sure we have the most fun out there,' " Nollan said.

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Teagan DeFalco

Sarah Hagge

Melody Horton

Annabelle Kubinski

Klaire Mitchell

Kaira Moss

Yeny Murillo

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