WAC championship bound: Lopes sweep semifinal

Friday, November 17

Orem, Utah

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

22-7,13-3WAC

UT Rio Grande Valley

19-12,12-4WAC

UTRGV

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Adrianna Candelaria

11/17/2023 6:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Mitchell, Parrott notch double-doubles to set up GCU-SFA title match

By: Adrianna Candelaria

OREM, Utah — Although it is not Grand Canyon's first time advancing to the WAC Tournament championship match, this tourney does mark the first time the Lopes have swept both the quarterfinal and semifinal matches to earn an opportunity to compete for the title. No 2 seed GCU dominated No. 3 seed UT Rio Grande Valley 25-22, 25-22, 25-19, in Friday's WAC semifinal at Lockhart Arena.

"Courage! That is what we played with day," Lopes head coach Tim Nollan said. "We didn't shy away from the big moment. We fought hard to earn a sweep against a quality team in UTRGV."

GCU graduate setter Klaire Mitchell notched her 11th double-double of the season, with 32 assists and 10 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Tatum Parrott posted her fifth of the season (15 kills, 11 digs).

Parrott scored 16.5 points, followed by senior outside hitter Ashley Lifgren with 10. Lifgren (.318) recorded her second consecutive match with .300-plus hitting for eight semifinal kills, as sophomore outside hitter Anaelena Ramirez (.333) had her third-straight match hitting over . 300 for five kills. Ramirez and junior middle blocker Alissa Uhlenhop each posted career-high total blocks as well, with three and eight, respectively.

"The big story for me is our defense," Nollan said.

The Lopes tallied 13 team blocks, led by Uhlenhop, with six block assists and two solo blocks, and 48 digs led by sophomore libero Tatum Thomas with 12, to hold UTRGV to .125 hitting.

The last time GCU swept a WAC semifinal match was in the fall tournament of 2021, when it defeated Sam Houston 25-20, 25-21, 25-17.

the first set remained competitive throughout, as the squads hit .214 (UTRGV) and .270 (GCU) to keep things interesting, but the Lopes prevailed with a Parrott kill to seal the set 25-22.

Despite only hitting .154 in the second set, GCU came away with the win for a 2-0 match lead after limiting UTRGV to just .071 hitting.

The Lopes cornered the Vaqueros early with a 9-1 lead, but UTRGV answered with seven straight points late to trail 13-11. In a similar scenario to the first set, the Lopes and the Vaqueros went point for point, until GCU closed it out with three consecutive points, including two Parrott kills and a solo block by junior middle blocker Trista Strasser.

Trailing 3-1 in the third set, the Lopes picked up sideout on a kill by Parrott and ultimately begin a stretch of six unanswered points to take an 8-3 lead that would never be challenged. Ramirez posted a kill for a 23-18 lead and a UTRGV error brought on match point, when Lifgren had the final say with a kill for a 25-17 final and match sweep.

"Now we recover and prepare to face a quality opponent tomorrow in what I believe will be a highly competitive match," Nollan said.

GCU (22-7) will face No. 1 seed Stephen F. Austin (29-3) in the WAC Tournament championship match on Saturday at 6 p.m. (Phoenix time).The Lumberjacks were undefeated in conference play this season, including two wins against the Lopes, but SFA narrowly avoided going five sets with host Utah Valley, the fifth seed, on Friday. The Ladyjacks won its semifinal 26-24, 22-25, 25-20, 30-28, with outside hitter Ielean Bradley, the WAC Player of the Year, connecting on 22 kills.