IRVINE, Calif. – The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team dropped the first of two road matches 3-0 to Concordia on Friday night.
It was a disappointing return to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play for the ninth-ranked Lopes (13-9, 3-4 MPSF), coming off four straight nonconference wins at home. Concordia (10-9, 3-4 MPSF) came out strong offensively and hit .383, the highest mark for the Eagles since Jan. 22.
Concordia kicked off the match with a 25-21 win in the first set. The Lopes struggled to stop the Concordia offensive attack, which hit .480 with middle blocker Owen Chun collecting seven of his season-high 24 kills. The Lopes were down 14-13, but the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to put the set out of reach at 19-13. GCU was able to get within two late, but two straight points from the Eagles closed out the set.
In the second set, the Lopes dropped a long 36-34 second set for GCU's 10th extra-points set this season. The Lopes had to come behind from an early six-point deficit to force extra points after falling behind 13-7. Down 23-20, the Lopes went on a 4-0 run to hold a match point but a
Christian Janke service error tied up the match.
As the teams went back and forth, the Lopes held 10 set points but were unable to put it away. A kill by Concordia's Jonathan Carlson and a GCU attacking error ended the set.
Concordia finished the match with a 25-23, third-set win. The Lopes held a 14-9 lead thanks to outside hitters
Camden Gianni and Janke combining for six kills, but the Eagles responded with a 7-2 run to regain the lead at 16-15. GCU held another late 23-21 lead but the Eagles scored four straight to complete the 3-0 win.
Gianni finished with a team-high 17 kills while Janke and opposite
Hugo Fischer finished with 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
The Lopes and Eagles will meet again Saturday at 7 p.m.