WAC Tournament title quest falls short

Saturday, November 20

Las Cruces, N.M.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

19-7,9-5WAC

Utah Valley

16-12,8-6WAC

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Zach Campbell

11/20/2021 10:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score

DeFalco closes career with pride over program's progress

By: Paul Coro

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Success has taken Grand Canyon women's volleyball through all the steps of getting to the doorstep of a WAC championship.

GCU's next step across the threshold will have to wait after reaching the WAC Tournament championship for the second time in three years on Saturday, only to be turned away from an NCAA tournament berth by defending tournament champion Utah Valley.

GCU lost a 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 title match at New Mexico State when it could not be the team that put it there. A day after serving 13 aces to knock off WAC Tournament No. 1 seed Sam Houston, the Lopes (19-7) made 11 service errors in the first two games against Utah Valley (16-12) and could not recover.

When the Wolverines last kill went down, the Lopes huddled at midcourt with senior libero Teagan DeFalco putting the "Lopes Up" hand sign toward the ceiling first after her last GCU play on the hardcourt.

"This team means so much to me," DeFalco said through tears. "The tears aren't even because we lost. The tears are because I'm walking away from an amazing group of girls. As soon as the final point hit and I walked off the sideline and looked at all the girls on the bench, that's when it started to hit me.

"I want to be able to convey how special everyone is, including the coaching staff. They have been so crucial to who I am and I know that. I want other people to know that. To see how far the program has come in so many aspects, that's what makes me so proud. That's what makes this heartbreaking."

GCU is 54-17 (.761) over the past three seasons but could not find that winning formula on Saturday night.

The Lopes led 3-2 in the first set on a solo block by junior middle blocker Hannah Estes, but they never led again. GCU only had two more blocks and played out of system often on a season-low .110 hitting night.

"I was obviously disappointed in our loss, but I'm proud of the body of work that we put together this season," Lopes head coach Tim Nollan said. "We overcame a lot of things from COVID to injuries to illness to more injury. We battled through a lot of weird things. Most of the year, we didn't have our full team available. Tonight, we didn't have our full team available. It's just unfortunate timing.

"We were super-thin all year and it came back to bite us at the end. Give credit to UVU for playing a really good match, but it's just disappointing that we were unable to play our brand of volleyball."

The Lopes challenged in the first two sets, trailing 19-18 after a kill from GCU freshman outside hitter McKenzie Wise until Utah Valley ended the set on a 6-0 run. The Wolverines led the entire second set, but two of Lopes sophomore outside hitter Ashley Lifgren's team-high 12 kills carried a 3-0 GCU run that tightened the score to 23-22. GCU's 11th service error set up set point, which Utah Valley won on a block.

The Lopes had beaten the Wolverines twice during the season, but Utah Valley was a different tournament team, as it showed in also avenging an 0-2 regular-season record against New Mexico State with a first-round win over the host Aggies. With 6-foot-4 junior outside hitter Tori Dorius back from an abdominal tear, the Wolverines rolled to a 16-2 lead in the third set.

GCU played its best volleyball in the face of elimination. The Lopes went on a 10-5 run with four Wise kills to hold off Utah Valley's match-clinching moment, when WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Kazna Tanuvasa delivered her 10th kill.

"It's not easy to be able to go back-to-back," Utah Valley 23-year head coach Sam Atoa said. "During the COVID year and the challenges, I'm just speechless, overwhelmed and happy for them."

The Lopes entered the match as the No. 18 team in the nation for aces per set (1.87) but only served two on Saturday night.

"Some nights, we miss a little bit from the service line, but usually we're able to reel it in and we couldn't," Nollan said. "And we couldn't pass particularly well. Serving and passing are pretty much are two strengths and we never got to showcase them tonight. That was the most disappointing thing."

GCU loses senior Kayla Matthews and DeFalco, who entered Saturday ranked 20th nationally with 5.19 digs per set and stayed on average with 17 digs. DeFalco has a beach volleyball season remaining this spring at GCU.

The rest of the Lopes roster, including All-WAC Tournament honorees Lifgren and junior setter Klaire Mitchell, returns and becomes deeper with a four-player incoming class.

"Now they've got this tournament experience," Nollan said. "We've got to start talking and prepping next week about what it takes to not just get to the conference tournament championship but to win it. That's the benchmark for this program. We want to win championships. Unfortunately tonight, we were a little too thin and couldn't get over the hump."