Lopes tie win record at home

Thursday, November 7

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

21-4,11-2WAC

UT Rio Grande Valley

13-14,7-6WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
UTRGV	25	12	25	8	16	2
Grand Canyon	23	25	17	25	18	3

11/7/2019 8:50:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

GCU grinds out wild 5-set WAC victory

By: Sarah Woodward

In a match of momentum swings, the Grand Canyon women's volleyball team came up clutch in the fifth set to defeat UT Rio Grande Valley, tie the Lopes' Division I single-season victory record and extend its winning streak to seven Thursday night at GCU Arena.

The Lopes (21-4, 11-2 WAC) beat the Vaqueros 23-25, 25-12, 17-25, 25-8, 18-16 to remain in second place in the WAC and tie the GCU DI win record set in 2014 by a 21-11 team. These Lopes have three regular-season matches and a postseason remaining.

Through Thursday's matches, GCU is one of 16 teams in the nation with 21 wins or more this season.

"I thought this was a match of runs," Lopes head coach Tim Nollan said. "Both sides seemed to get into rhythm at different times. In set two and set four, we did an excellent job of controlling the tempo of the match and catering to our strengths.

"We were a little high on our attacking errors compared to what we'd like. However, I loved our mentality that we were going to continue to play to win."

GCU boasted a pair of double-doubles from senior outside hitter Melody Horton (season-high 17 kills on .333 hitting and 10 digs) and freshman setter Klaire Mitchell (50 assists and 14 digs). Horton added a season-best four blocks while sophomore middle blocker Kaira Moss had a team-high five blocks with eight kills on .227 hitting.

Lopes junior outside hitter Yeny Murillo added 13 kills and a season-high three solo blocks while sophomore middle blocker Annabelle Kubinski stayed hot with 12 kills on .375 hitting. She entered the match ranked 15th in the nation with .411 hitting.

From the back row, GCU junior libero Teagan DeFalco tallied a season-best 29 digs while the Lopes had just two service errors compared to 15 from the Vaqueros.

GCU started the first set with a 3-0 run and led 17-12 before UTRGV (13-14, 7-6) caught up to tie the game at 20-20 and win 25-23. Horton was hot in the first set with a .429 hitting percentage and three kills.

Tied 6-6 in the second set, the Lopes scored six consecutive points with three coming on kills by Kubinski. They kept pulling away for dominant 16-8 and 23-11 leads before closing out the set to even the match. Horton continued her tear with .533 hitting in the second set while the Lopes accumulated six blocks.

GCU couldn't sustain the momentum in the third set and the Vaqueros took their largest lead at 20-10. The Lopes came back to cut the lead to six with two kills and a block from Murillo but UTRGV took a 2-1 match lead with the 25-17 set win.

In the most dominant set of the match, the Lopes jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the fourth set to force the Vaqueros to call a timeout. GCU tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-8 set on .529 hitting, including five kills and a service ace from Kubinski.

The fifth set returned to the first set's competitiveness, as the pair battled into extra points after being tied on seven occasions. With a four-kill set from Horton, GCU survived a UTRGV match point at 15-14 and was tied 16-16 before a Moss kill and UTRGV attacking error closed out the Lopes win.

GCU will host WAC leader New Mexico State (22-3, 13-0 WAC) on Saturday to continue its four-game homestand. The first serve is set for 2 p.m. inside GCU Arena.