Reigning Mountain West champ takes 5-set thriller

Sunday, September 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-1,0-0WAC

Fresno State

2-1,0-0Mountain West

Fresno St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Nate Cochran

9/1/2024 6:16:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

GCU shifts focus to 1st road trip after having 2-1 weekend

By: Nathan Peters

Grand Canyon suffered its first lost of the season in a five-set match Sunday against Fresno State at Global Credit Union Arena. An intense match featuring the 2023 WAC champions and the 2023 Mountain West champions concluded with the Bulldogs coming out on top 25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12.

GCU (2-1) completed the GCU Invitational learning a lot about the fight and poise that they can use going forward.

The Lopes closed the five-set match with 57 kills on the night.

Junior outside hitter Tatum Parrott finished the first set with only one kill, but after the Lopes fell 25-18 to open up the match, the Phoenix native rattled off 20 kills the rest of the way for a 21-kill, 15-dig dight.

The thrilling back-and-forth match was similar to the alternating attacking of Parrott and Fresno State's Ella Rud, who tallied 23 kills and 13 digs.

GCU trailed 16-12 in the second set but close with a 13-6 stretch to win 25-22, finishing on kills from sophomore outside hitter Ellie Frey and Parrott.

Frey continued her strong weekend, closing with 17 kills and 13 digs on Sunday. Along with Parrott and freshman setter Taylor Kubacak (41 assists, 14 digs), three Lopes finished with a double-double.

The GCU middle blockers of Trista Strasser and Aubrey Goodere made contributions in the Sunday matinee match. Each had four blocks on the night. Goodere also hit .400 with nine kills.

Fresno State fought back and eventually took a hard-fought third set 25-21.

A Parrott ace closed the fourth set for GCU 25-19 victory that evened the match 2-2. The ace marked one of nine from the Lopes.

GCU began the decisive set trailing 10-3 but made a 7-3 run to pull within a reachable distance at 13-10.

The last gasp came from a Strasser ace before the Bulldogs finished the match on a long rally resulting in a kill for the 15-12 set and match conclusion.

The Lopes will look ahead to the first road trip of the season, when they will face Central Arkansas, No.10 Oregon and Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado, at Moby Arena next weekend.