Bruins best Lopes in 4

Sunday, March 31

Los Angeles, Calif.

2 P.M.

Grand Canyon

12-14, 2-8

UCLA

17-7, 7-3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Grand Canyon	18	25	23	22	1
UCLA	25	19	25	25	3

3/31/2019 5:27:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

GCU showed fight but fall at No. 5 UCLA

By: Alex Nash

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team went toe-to-toe with No. 5 UCLA but fell in four sets on Sunday in Los Angeles by scores of 18-25, 25-19, 23-25 and 22-25.

Sunday's conference match was only the fifth time this season that a match ended in four sets for the Lopes (12-14, 2-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), who had played three-set affairs in their previous three matches.

GCU had the Wooden Center on its feet for most the match, thanks to gritty play and splitting the first two sets. Ultimately, it was UCLA (17-7, 7-3 MPSF) that sent the fans home happy once their home team scratched out wins in the final two sets.

The Lopes were led by strong play from sophomore middle blocker Ian McLain. The California native recorded nine kills on a .333 hitting percentage to go along with three blocks. Outside hitters Christian Janke and Will Schwob were right behind with eight kills apiece. Janke, a freshman, added an ace and 11 digs while Schwob recorded eight digs and a team-best five blocks. Sophomore opposite David Kisiel was impressive from the service line, landing a career-high three aces to pair with six kills and three digs. Redshirt freshman Tanner Petchul paced the offense with 31 assists and contributed an ace.

As a team, UCLA had the advantage in every statistical category, but its big headline came from its senior outside hitter, Micah Ma'a. The Hawaiian served up six aces on his way to becoming the Bruins' all-time leader in the category.

UCLA started the match off swinging, using two aces to jump out to a 7-2 lead that forced an early GCU timeout. It was Kisiel who responded with two aces following a Bruins service error that closed the gap. From there, it was back-and-forth play capped by a Petchul kill before UCLA made its run. Three straight points put the Bruins up by six and gave them momentum. The Lopes tried to close the gap but UCLA kept the pressure on with a 23-14 lead. Two Bruins' errors and a Kisiel kill had the Lopes within striking distance but UCLA closed the door with a kill to take the 25-18 set.

The second set was a different story and McLain was to thank. The middle tallied a block and two kills to put GCU up 5-2 before an error and another big GCU block pushed the lead to four forcing UCLA into a timeout. The Bruins secured a point out of the timeout but Kisiel and Schwob kept them at bay with timely kills.

For the first time since playing at BYU earlier this season, Lopes head coach Matt Werle had the opportunity to challenge and he took advantage of it. Werle challenged a net violation and, upon review, was correct to give GCU a 13-7 lead. The Bruins started to make a run but it was quickly put to bed thanks to a triple block from Schwob, McLain and Kisiel, keeping a three-point advantage for the Lopes. Schwob kept things going with back-to-back kills and forced UCLA into its final timeout with GCU leading 17-13.

The Lopes kept the attack going until the coach's challenge came into play again, this time from UCLA. The challenge went GCU's way and momentum stayed with the Lopes. With the score at 22-18, McLain landed a kill and Petchul followed with an ace. After a UCLA kill, McLain ended a 25-19 set with another strong swing to tie the match at 1-1.

Set No. 3 acted as a middle ground for the first two. McLain landed two kills to put GCU up 4-1 early but the three-point lead quickly disappeared as UCLA battled back to tie it at 6-6. After that, neither side budged, wit the teams tying five times up to a 14-14 tie. The Lopes began to pull away, scoring four of the next five points off two service errors, a triple-block from Kisiel, Schwob and senior middle blocker Alex Shmelev and a Schwob solo block. GCU led 18-15 until UCLA responded with three straight points to tie things up. A battle ensued to a 23-23 tie. UCLA came out and secured the next two points to take the set and match advantage.

UCLA led the fourth set 7-3, thanks in part to three aces. Kisiel served an ace to close the gap at 7-5 and another close set followed. UCLA kept its lead until Schwob made his mark. The senior earned four of five GCU points behind thee kills and a block and McLain followed up with a kill to give the Lopes their first lead of the set at 18-17.

The Bruins called a timeout and it worked as the home side went on a 6-1 run, forcing GCU into a timeout. UCLA served an error and Schwob landed a free ball kill to cut UCLA's lead to 23-21 but the Bruins scored twice to close out the match.

GCU returns home to finish the regular season with two MPSF matches against BYU and Stanford. The Lopes will take on the Cougars on Thursday at 6 p.m. before Senior Night at 6 p.m. Saturday against Stanford.