Win streak comes to an end

Saturday, March 16

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

11-12, 1-6

George Mason

13-6, 6-2

George Mason

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Gillian Rea

3/16/2019 8:06:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes fall in straight sets to #14 George Mason

By: Alex Nash

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team saw its winning streak come to an end on Saturday night, falling to George Mason in straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-14.

GCU (11-12) was hoping to not only defeat their fifth-straight ranked opponent but end their stretch of nine Top-15 matches with a 5-4 record.

The Patriots (13-6) were determined to avenge last night's loss and used strong defense to do just that. GCU was held to a .155 hitting percentage but managed to keep the visitors under their season average at .258. Mason led in kills, aces, blocks, assists and digs on the night.

Sophomore opposite David Kisiel continued his strong play and led the Lopes in kills (14) and aces (2) while adding four digs. Senior outside hitter Will Schwob led the defense with 12 kills in just three sets while senior middle blocker Alex Shmelev contributed a team-best four blocks. Sophomore setter Tanner Petchul led with 22 assists in two sets. Freshman outsider hitter Christian Janke had a balanced night with six kills, five digs and an ace.

GCU looked like it was picking up from where it left off last night, securing seven of the first 10 points. Mason responded and fought back to tie things up at 9-9, determined to take the first set for the second straight night. That determination carried them to a 13-12 score shortly after, marking the first time they led in the set. It was GCU's turn to respond and it did just that with a Shmelev kill, a Kisiel ace and a Schwob/Shmelev block to knot things back up at 19. Despite the score being tied at points 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23, Mason put an end to things with two straight points to secure a match lead.

The two sides stuck to the script in the second until the set was tied at 11 apiece. This time it was GCU that pulled away, scoring three straight, capped off by a Schwob free ball kill that forced the Patriots into a timeout. The Lopes kept things going and capitalized on Mason errors to increase the lead to 20-16. Mason, like a night before, used strong defense to stay in the game and back-to-back blocks had them within a point. A Lopes error gave the visitors the window they needed as they secured four of the next six to take the set and a 2-0 match lead.

A new regime tried to bring life to the Lopes with sophomore setter Onur Cukur and junior middle blocker Caleb Blazer seeing action for the first time on the weekend. The Lopes trailed early but answered with kills from Kisiel and Janke as well as a Cukur/Shmelev block to tie things once again at 7-7. Mason kept the pressure on however with an 8-3 run to force GCU into a timeout. The momentum stayed with the visitors even after Kisiel landed a kill to cut the deficit down at 20-13, Mason. The Lopes scored one more point, but the Patriots put an end to things with a final score of 25-14.

The Lopes continue their homestand but the stretch of nine ranked opponents comes to an end when Concordia-Irvine comes to town on Friday, March 22. It is the only match on the week for the Lopes with first serve set for 6 p.m..