GCU opens season with sweep of St. Thomas

Friday, August 26

Bozeman, Mont.

11:30 a.m.

Grand Canyon

1-0,0-0WAC

St. Thomas

0-1,0-0Summit League

St. Thomas (MN)

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Zach Campbell

8/26/2022 3:11:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes hit .375 with Taflinger making 9-kill, 6-dig debut at Bobcat Classic

By: Adrianna Candelaria

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Grand Canyon opened its season with a 3-0 sweep of St. Thomas at the Bobcat Classic on Friday, keeping the Tommies to fewer than 20 points in each set.

Every healthy player on the Grand Canyon roster saw the court in the 25-19, 25-12, 25-15 victory, including three newcomers — freshman outside hitter Tatum Parrott and graduate outside hitter Melanie Brecka, who led the Lopes in scoring with 10 points apiece, and graduate outside hitter Megan Taflinger, who posted nine kills and six digs while hitting .538 in her GCU debut.

"It's always great to get a sweep on the road," GCU head coach Tim Nollan said. "We started off slower than I would have liked, but we have a lot of new pieces on the floor. We got more comfortable as our attack efficiency improved between Sets 2 and 3."

GCU fell behind by as much as 14-9 and trailed 19-16 in the first set before scoring nine consecutive points to take the set 25-19. A quick sideout kill from senior middle blocker Hannah Eskes cut the lead to 19-16 and allowed Parrott to take the driver's seat at the service line for the remainder of the game.

Parrott served the final eight points with four aces, including two on the final two points after two kills by Taflinger.

The Lopes impressively carried that momentum into the second set, leading off with back-to-back kills from Taflinger off two of senior setter Klaire Mitchell's 27 asssists. Mitchell added a pair of ace and sophomore middle blocker Sydney Reed picked up two kills as GCU took an 8-0 lead, giving them 17 unanswered points after the 9-0 run to end the first set.

Once in control, the Lopes never looked back, and dominated to win the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-15 without trailing.

With a season-opening win in their back pocket, the Lopes will end the tournament's opening day by hosting Montana State at 6 p.m. (Phoenix time).