Conference favorite Utah State sweeps at GCU

Saturday, September 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

8-5,0-2Mountain West

Utah State

5-7,2-0Mountain West

Utah St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Nate Cochran

9/27/2025 2:53:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes' Parlanti records team-best 9 kills in MW defeat

By: Paul Coro

It is hard enough to beat the best, but that task for Grand Canyon proved more difficult Saturday when preseason Mountain West favorite Utah State played at its best.

The Aggies swept the Lopes by hitting .424, Utah State's second-best team hitting percentage since 2018.

In the 25-15, 25-16, 25-18 win, Aggies sophomore opposite Loryn Helgesen set the Utah State single-match record for hitting percentage (.704) with at least 20 attempts. It also ranked fifth in Mountain West history for a conference match.

The l Bella Nunez

oss capped GCU's first week of Mountain West play, starting with a 3-1 Thursday loss against Boise State in which the Lopes held two set points for a chance at a 2-0 lead.

"I know the girls," Lopes head coach Kendra Potts said. "They wanted this just as bad as anybody. And so the thing that I want to make sure we all know is that we don't have to have self-doubt.

"We don't need to overthink this. We took some hits. We saw two good teams. We're going to learn. We're going to grow. And if this is a part of our story for the season to have to take some hard hits from the very beginning to grow and learn what speed we need to play, what adjustments we need to make, then this will be worth it."

Utah State (5-7, 2-0 MW) arrived Phoenix on Saturday morning after a Friday flight cancellation from Albuquerque, and the Aggies kept flying for a dominating first set of.741 hitting. GCU (9-5, 0-2 MW) was scrapping to be competitive to a 11-10 deficit, which was helped by graduate outside hitter Sophia Parlanti scoring three consecutive Lopes points on kills.

Utah State was relentless at both ends, digging 11 GCU attacks and not making a hitting error to pull away for the 25-14 win.

The Lopes battled again early in the second set to an 8-8 tie when senior outside hitter Anaelena Ramirez scored the final three of those points on two kills and a block. But an 8-0 Aggies ru blew open the set with Utah State still hitting a sizzling .566 in the second set.

Sophia Parlanti

"We came in with the idea to be the underdogs and to really jump compete and give it our all," said Parlanti, who finished the match with a team-best nine kills. "They definitely came out and showed who they are when they're at their best. We really struggled to get out in front of them and just touch an extra ball to make them frustrated."

The Lopes opened the third set with a 4-2 lead on a Parlanti kill and still led 6-5 before the Aggies took command and pulled away. GCU outside hitter Ana Jaramazovic was a third-set bright spot, as the 6-foot-4 freshman from Serbia recorded two kills and an assist.

"When you're out of system all the time playing very, very smooth offensive teams, you do feel like you're always just playing catch-up," Potts said. "And so transitionally, when we're going to transition defense out of serve receive, we've got a couple things to overcome. We're trying to slow something down a quicker offensive side, but also being confident that when we do get that dig, we're capable of actually throwing a punch back."

Since that point Thursday night when two chances to win the second set slipped away, Potts said she felt like her team began overthinking, and it carried over to Saturday's play against the Mountain West preseason favorite.

"We've got to get our girls playing loose and free," Potts said.

"It was uncharacteristic volleyball that we played after the second set against Boise for the rest of the weekend, but that doesn't define who we are. This weekend does not define the body of work. This weekend does not define the love that we have for each other. If anything, it's going to magnify what we need to do to love and serve one another, to get us where we need to go for next weekend."

GCU will continue conference play at home but move across campus Thursday to Antelope Gymnasium, where it will play Wyoming at 6 p.m. The Lopes cap next week with a 2 p.m. Saturday MW match against Colorado State in Global Credit Union Arena.

"We're really going to look forward to practice," Parlanti said. "We're going to watch film, see what we could've done better and make the switch for next week."