Home win streak hits 20, keeps tie for 1st

Saturday, November 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-5,9-4WAC

Dixie State

5-15,4-8WAC

Dixie St.

Grand Canyon

11/6/2021 6:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball, Paul Coro

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Lopes hit season-best .390 with Lifgren's career-high 17 kills

By: Paul Coro

Selling the Grand Canyon women's volleyball team on taking on a win-or-go-home postseason mentality during its final two weeks of regular-season games is made much easier when every win decides whether the Lopes remain in first place.

GCU appears to be shaping into WAC Tournament form after hitting a season-best .390 on Saturday and sweeping Dixie State for its 20th consecutive home win, the fifth-longest active streak in the nation.

The 25-14, 25-16, 25-23 victory put the Lopes in a tie atop the WAC's West Division with New Mexico State at 9-4. Each team finishes the regular season next week with a match against Chicago State, which is tied with California Baptist at 8-4. CBU plays at Utah Valley and Dixie State next week.

"What's so great about this team is the buy-in," GCU head coach Tim Nollan said. "From Klaire (Mitchell), who you know is going to play, to the last kid on the bench who hasn't played in a couple weeks, every single one of them is paying attention during film. They know their scouting reports. They're dialed in during the match. We have complete buy-in and it makes playing out these scenarios easier because everyone is rowing the same direction."

Klaire Mitchell

GCU (17-5) had not hit .300 in a match since the season-opening tournament at Idaho but nearly went to .400 with Mitchell, the junior setter, putting up assists artfully and precisely.

Setting in all directions and contorting in all ways, Mitchell set a GCU Division I-era record for assists in a three-set match with 43. The Idaho native holds that category's top four spots as she piles onto her GCU D-I era record for career assists with 2,171 so far.

"Klaire Mitchell is such a special facilitator," Nollan said. "It's amazing with some of the things she was able to do out there. Give the attackers credit for being in their routes and trusting her because, if you're not, you're going to get the ball anyway and you could look silly.

"From almost setting from the floor to 12 feet off the net, pushing the ball to one sideline and getting the ball to the other sideline in the right tempo. She was absolutely elite tonight and allowed those hitters to have those kind of nights."

GCU volleyball

Saturday's biggest benefactor was sophomore outside hitter Ashley Lifgren, who delivered a career-high and match-high 17 kills with efficient .552 hitting.

"Tim has been really pushing velocity and aggression," Lifgren said of her coach. "I think we just played more and were swinging high. We did a good job of limiting our errors."

Lifgren put down at least five kills in each set. When Dixie State made a push for a tighter third set, Lifgren was part of how the Lopes responded with .550 hitting and 23 kills.

The Peoria (Ariz.) Centennial High School graduate diversified her attack with finesse and power that often knocked back the Trailblazers, along with GCU senior middle blocker Annabelle Kubinski hitting .625 for 10 kills and junior middle blocker Hannah Eskes hitting .474 for nine kills.

"We get better and better every single day at practice," said Lifgren, whose sophomore class has not lost a home match. "I think it's finally showing in the games."
Only Wisconsin (30), Weber State (23), Stephen F. Austin (22) and BYU (21) have longer home winning streaks than GCU's 20.

The Lopes have dominated at GCU Arena, winning 30 of 34 sets at home this season for a 10-0 mark.

"That's one that you can finally step back and say, 'Whoa, we've really done something special here,' " Nollan said of the 20-match home winning streak that started in 2019. "To be able to do that, playing some of the competition that we brought here, is pretty special. You have to give a ton of credit to our team and to my staff for the prep they've done. But you also have to clearly give credit to our home-court advantage and the Havocs, the band, cheer and this incredible arena we get to call home."

Fifth-year libero Teagan DeFalco always gives a GCU Arena crowd plenty to enjoy when she lays out for digs, like the pancake one she had late in Saturday's match to allow Mitchell to set Kubinski for a 22-20 lead.

But the former freshman outside hitter also can still score as one of the best servers in nation. Ranked 15th nationally for aces per set, DeFalco added three more aces in Saturday's match. She lined career No. 100 and barely enjoyed it before acing the following serve, sparking GCU to pull away in the second set.

"She's done a really great job of just hitting that ball so flat and clean," Nollan said. "She gets a lot of movement on it. She has really good control over it. We tell our kids to be aggressive. We want to be attacking with the serve. She likes that because she doesn't get to attack often, being that libero jersey. It's the one time she gets to let out a little aggression and she goes to work."

DeFalco and Lopes teammate Kayla Matthews will be honored for Senior Night, a 6 p.m. Thursday match against Chicago State at GCU Arena.