Completed Event: Volleyball versus Pepperdine on September 18, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 2
Volleyball
vs Pepperdine
W 3-2
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, October 22
Phoenix, Ariz.
3 p.m.
Grand Canyon
11-9,5-4WAC
3
vs
0
New Mexico State
12-8,4-4WAC
1
2
3
F
New Mexico St.
20
22
18
0
Grand Canyon
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Garrett Ohrenberg
Sweep win marks program 1st vs. Aggies
10/22/2022 6:10:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro
After going 1-20, GCU wins back-to-back matches vs. New Mexico State
Last season, the breakthrough was for Grand Canyon women's volleyball to beat New Mexico State.
This season, the Lopes are passing the Aggies.
GCU jumped New Mexico State in the WAC standings by sweeping the Aggies for the first time with a dominant 25-20, 25-22, 25-18 win in front of 1,143 fans at GCU Arena.
After losing 20 of the first 21 meetings in the series, the Lopes have beaten the Aggies in the past two matchups but replaced last year's celebration with this year's expectation. GCU (11-9, 5-4 WAC) played its most complete match of the season Saturday after outscoring conference leader UT Rio Grande Valley in a Thursday loss.
"New Mexico State has been the standard in the league for a while, since I got here," said seven-year head coach Tim Nollan, whose teams are 65-26 in the past four seasons. "It's nice to see us go from where we were when I took over the program to where we are today. It's night and day. I still think we can play better. It's nice to see the direction of the program, but we're not done. We can still get better and we're going to still keep climbing."
The Aggies (12-8, 4-4 WAC) have won the conference regular-season and/or postseason championship every year since 2015, but they were overmatched Saturday by the Lopes' all-around efficiency.
GCU senior setter Klaire Mitchell hit the 3,000-assist milestone on Thursday and ramped up the pace two days later with 42 assists, the second most by any WAC player this season in a three-set match. She also had 10 digs for her fourth consecutive double-digit dig match.
"That is an astronomical number," Nollan said of Mitchell's assists. "She just made us comfortable. We hit .283 for the night and had 17 kills in all three sets."
The Lopes are 6-0 this season when hitting at least .275, and Mitchell put GCU in that range again by distributing to a wealth of powerful outside hitters – junior Ashley Lifgren (15 kills, 12 digs, .351 hitting), freshman Tatum Parrott (13 kills, nine digs, .394 hitting) and graduate Melanie Brecka (10 kills, .370 hitting).
GCU also attacked the middle with Preseason All-WAC honoree Annabelle Kubinski, a senior middle blocker, able to start for the first time after an offseason foot injury. Kubinski hit .427 with seven kills.
"I'm really proud of Annabelle," Nollan said. "To go 7 for 14 with one error is bigtime numbers."
The Lopes were more intentional about targeting areas on their serves without losing aggression, and it paid off to keep the Aggies out of system often.
GCU jumped ahead 12-3 in the opening set and kept a lead of five or more until it was 24-20, where Lifgren finished off the set with a left-side kill from Mitchell's set.
The Lopes only trailed 4-3 in the second set, but it was tighter with the Aggies making it 22-21 before senior middle blocker Hannah Eskes' block started a close to winning 25-22 and taking a 2-0 match lead.
Lifgren did more damage in the third set, getting hot just as New Mexico State had cut the lead to 15-13. GCU rattled of a 5-0 run with Lifgren recording four consecutive kills. The Lopes hit .366 in the final set with Lifgren adding an ace in the 25-18 win.
After being limited or sidelined by multiple unrelated injuries all season, the Peoria Centennial High School graduate has been stellar upon regaining her health. In the last five full matches she has played, Lifgren is averaging 15 kills per match.
"It's good to be feeling good," Lifgren said. "It was so nice to not worry about something hurting every time I jumped. I could play free and more like myself."
GCU moved into fifth place in the 13-team WAC and stay home next week, when Sam Houston visits next Saturday.
"We're coming together," Lifgren said. "We're putting together all of our skills that we've been working on all year and it's finally showing."
This season, the Lopes are passing the Aggies.
GCU jumped New Mexico State in the WAC standings by sweeping the Aggies for the first time with a dominant 25-20, 25-22, 25-18 win in front of 1,143 fans at GCU Arena.
After losing 20 of the first 21 meetings in the series, the Lopes have beaten the Aggies in the past two matchups but replaced last year's celebration with this year's expectation. GCU (11-9, 5-4 WAC) played its most complete match of the season Saturday after outscoring conference leader UT Rio Grande Valley in a Thursday loss.
"New Mexico State has been the standard in the league for a while, since I got here," said seven-year head coach Tim Nollan, whose teams are 65-26 in the past four seasons. "It's nice to see us go from where we were when I took over the program to where we are today. It's night and day. I still think we can play better. It's nice to see the direction of the program, but we're not done. We can still get better and we're going to still keep climbing."
The Aggies (12-8, 4-4 WAC) have won the conference regular-season and/or postseason championship every year since 2015, but they were overmatched Saturday by the Lopes' all-around efficiency.
GCU senior setter Klaire Mitchell hit the 3,000-assist milestone on Thursday and ramped up the pace two days later with 42 assists, the second most by any WAC player this season in a three-set match. She also had 10 digs for her fourth consecutive double-digit dig match."That is an astronomical number," Nollan said of Mitchell's assists. "She just made us comfortable. We hit .283 for the night and had 17 kills in all three sets."
The Lopes are 6-0 this season when hitting at least .275, and Mitchell put GCU in that range again by distributing to a wealth of powerful outside hitters – junior Ashley Lifgren (15 kills, 12 digs, .351 hitting), freshman Tatum Parrott (13 kills, nine digs, .394 hitting) and graduate Melanie Brecka (10 kills, .370 hitting).
GCU also attacked the middle with Preseason All-WAC honoree Annabelle Kubinski, a senior middle blocker, able to start for the first time after an offseason foot injury. Kubinski hit .427 with seven kills."I'm really proud of Annabelle," Nollan said. "To go 7 for 14 with one error is bigtime numbers."
The Lopes were more intentional about targeting areas on their serves without losing aggression, and it paid off to keep the Aggies out of system often.
GCU jumped ahead 12-3 in the opening set and kept a lead of five or more until it was 24-20, where Lifgren finished off the set with a left-side kill from Mitchell's set.
The Lopes only trailed 4-3 in the second set, but it was tighter with the Aggies making it 22-21 before senior middle blocker Hannah Eskes' block started a close to winning 25-22 and taking a 2-0 match lead.
Lifgren did more damage in the third set, getting hot just as New Mexico State had cut the lead to 15-13. GCU rattled of a 5-0 run with Lifgren recording four consecutive kills. The Lopes hit .366 in the final set with Lifgren adding an ace in the 25-18 win.
After being limited or sidelined by multiple unrelated injuries all season, the Peoria Centennial High School graduate has been stellar upon regaining her health. In the last five full matches she has played, Lifgren is averaging 15 kills per match.
"It's good to be feeling good," Lifgren said. "It was so nice to not worry about something hurting every time I jumped. I could play free and more like myself."
GCU moved into fifth place in the 13-team WAC and stay home next week, when Sam Houston visits next Saturday.
"We're coming together," Lifgren said. "We're putting together all of our skills that we've been working on all year and it's finally showing."
Team Stats
NMSU
GCU
Kills
40
51
Errors
11
15
Attempts
119
127
Hitting %
.244
.283
Points
47
57
Assists
38
47
Aces
2
3
Blocks
5
3
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
15
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
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