Feel of WAC title hits Lopes before crushing 5-set loss

Saturday, November 23

Arlington, Texas

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-11,11-5WAC

(1) UT Arlington

29-2,16-0WAC

Grand Canyon

UT Arlington

Photo by: Nathan Peters

Feel of WAC title hits Lopes before crushing 5-set loss

11/23/2024 4:53:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU nearly topples UT Arlington, which takes crown after match point reversale

By: Paul Coro

ARLINGTON, Texas -- For a couple seconds, the Grand Canyon women's volleyball team knew the feeling of ending a 28-2 team's 19-game winning streak on its court for the WAC Tournament championship and an NCAA tournament berth.

The Lopes played like champions throughout the WAC Tournament to reach that fleeting moment in the title match Saturday night, when a reversed call allowed UT Arlington to finish its fifth-set comeback and raise the WAC Tournament trophy while GCU head coach Kendra Potts consoled her crushed team.

The Mavericks won their 20th consecutive match, the nation's fifth-longest streak, to thrill a partisan College Park Center crowd with the 20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-23, 16-14 result.

But just moments earlier, after UT Arlington staved off two of three match points, the Lopes were leading the fifth set 14-13 when GCU sophomore Bella Anderson smoothly received serve, staying in system for graduate setter Ava Mason to send a high-arcing ball left for the Lopes' three-time All-WAC first-teamer, junior Tatum Parrott.

Parrott's diagonal smash landed and received a call that it was inbound from the line judge, as he was struck by the bounce. The Lopes rushed the court to celebrate what would have been a second consecutive WAC Tournament crown, but the first referee in the elevated stand overruled the call.

Had the call not been overturned by the referee, the ruling would have stood because UT Arlington did not have any replay challenges remaining.

The Mavericks won the next two points, ending the match on a 5-0 run with WAC Player of the Year Brianna Ford's 25th kill for the championship. It was the second consecutive night that UT Arlington survived match point to win in five sets after only losing three sets in its previous seven wins.

"The cool thing about this job is that you're doing something that a whole group cares about equally," GCU first-year head coach Kendra Potts said after the program's first consecutive 20-win seasons in Division I. "You celebrate together. You also struggle together. It's just a crazy mix of emotions of being so proud of a group that handled change with a new staff and then feeling so upset because you want it so badly for them.

Tatum Parrott

"They become your own kids. No matter what, I want them to know how much success they've gotten out of this whole process. They can lean on this the rest of their lives to know they're strong."

After the massive progress to shake off 3-1 and 3-0 regular-season losses to UT Arlington and two regular season-ending losses, GCU gathered in the postgame locker room in the wake of its best volleyball over three days. Their improved play put them an inch from a championship.

Seniors expressed their love for the program's coaches and players while Potts reminded them of what they showed this week, particularly Saturday night. Part of that was handing All-WAC Tournament Team plaques to Parrott and fellow outside hitter Ashley Lifgren.

Parrott followed up delivering a career-high 30 kills in last year's WAC Tournament championship match by notching 25 kills Saturday for her second-highest total of the season. Lifgren, a graduate, ended her career playing prime volleyball, overcoming injury and illness to close with a 16-kill semifinal with a 13-kill championship on .387 hitting.

WAC title huddle

"It's bittersweet without the outcome we wanted, but I couldn't be more proud of our team and all the grit and fight we showed tonight," said Lifgren, who recorded 846 career kills. "That's a really good team that went undefeated in conference, and we really held our own. We had it.

"I wouldn't take any other girl on UTA. I want all 17 of the girls on my team. I'm so grateful of my last year of volleyball with them."

No opponent came up with more digs (83) all season than UT Arlington did Saturday. But no team had delivered as many service aces (12) on the Mavericks this season as the Lopes did Saturday.

That was how the promise was built when six of those GCU aces came in the first set. The Lopes trailed 19-15 before ending the set on a 10-1 run, which included three consecutive blocks (two solo, one assists) from freshman middle blocker Aubrey Goodere.

UT Arlington evened the match with a 25-17 second set when it hit .429, much higher than its .228 match clip.

GCU again closed with clutch play in the third set, when it scored the final four points on a Lifgren kill, two Parrott kills and a block by junior Magdalena Juric that closed the 25-20 win for a 2-1 match lead.

The Lopes were following a path to repeat as WAC Tournament champions in a parallel path of last year's title run, when it lost twice to Stephen F. Austin before ending the Lumberjacks' 18-match winning streak in a four-set WAC title match.

GCU jumped ahead 10-5 on a pair of aces from senior middle blocker Trista Strasser, who finished her career with 442 blocks after adding eight Saturday.

"We grew so much from even a week ago," Strasser said. "I'm proud of every single girl on that team. Whether you play or don't, we did our 1/17th that night.

"I've been so blessed to have such great teammates and the best coaching staff I've ever had in my whole entire life. They've been so supportive, and I'm so thankful for that."

The fourth set was full of highlights. Parrott blocked Ford and sent another kill off her block. Graduate libero Mykenna Nelson continued helping with bump assists. The match's longest rally was punctuated by Strasser's kill. Mason parked an ace in the back corer and bumped an assist to Parrott for a 21-18 lead.

But that chance at closing out UT Arlington slipped away with Ford getting three kills and a block in the Mavericks' 7-3 close to win 25-23 and even the match at two sets apiece.

GCU shot out to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set with a Juric block and kept a 12-8 edge on junior outside hitter Anaelena Ramirez's kill and a 14-11 lead when Parrott finessed her final kill. Ford punched three kills on UT Arlington's 5-0 match close.

GCU was one of only six teams to hit over .200 against UT Arlington this season. It was narrowly close to making the Lopes the first team to beat the Mavericks on their court in 14 home matches.

In almost every phase of the game, GCU improved from ending the regular season with two losses.

"They chose the harder route," Potts said. "They chose to fix what was inside themselves and built trust in each other. That was huge. They played the best ball I've seen them play all season after one of the hardest weekends we've ever had to go through as a team.

"I'm very grateful that I get to be around such awesome women every single day."