San Diego State volleyball (11-7, 6-1 Mountain West) lost in a tough match against the Grand Canyon University Lopes (11-7, 3-4 Mountain West) on Thursday night at Peterson Gym.
Facing off for the first time in the Mountain West, the Aztecs put up a hard fight against the Lopes in five sets, but ultimately came up short.
The Aztecs came out strong in the first set, with kills early on and a 7-0 run, putting the Aztecs up 15-7. However, GCU had a response. Clawing their way back, scrappy defense and dominant blocks aided a 6-0 run by the Lopes, tying the set 18-18.
A kill by SDSU senior outside hitter Madison Corf and GCU errors put the Aztecs up 23-18. With back-to-back aces and kills, GCU took over and ended with a 25-23 win.
“We lose focus, we lose concentration, we lose confidence — I think that’s the main problem,” head coach Brent Hilliard said in regards to the first set.
Starting to warm up, the Aztecs bounced back in the second set. Producing points on both sides of the game, the Aztecs pulled away with the 25-16 win. Sophomore middle blocker Talea Mitchell contributed four blocks and freshman libero Zara Stewart racked up 12 digs.
In the third set, the Aztecs quickly fell behind, starting the set down 10-3. Slowly chipping away at the deficit, three kills from senior opposite hitter Taylor Underwood shifted the momentum. The Aztecs tied the set 22-22, after an energetic block from Corf. Exchanging points back and forth, the score was 28-28. Corf sealed the set with a kill, allowing the Aztecs to take set three 30-28.
Underwood expressed that staying calm was credited to their gritty third-set victory.
“Sometimes we can get a little hectic, but we just stuck together, took a deep breath and moved on,” Underwood said.
The Aztecs kept up with the Lopes early on in the fourth set. Kills from Underwood and junior middle blocker Amber Keen, along with blocks from Mitchell and junior opposite hitter Natalie Hughes, put the Aztecs within one point at 11-10.
However, the momentum of the Lopes couldn’t be stopped. A 9-0 run put the Lopes up 25-15, forcing an intense fifth set in Peterson Gym.
A short run at the beginning of set five pushed the Aztecs up 7-5, but GCU fought back, leading the set 12-10 after an ace. The Aztecs attempted to close the gap, with two kills from Underwood and one from Keen, forcing GCU to take a timeout at 14-13. The Lopes sealed the game with a kill out of the timeout, taking the victory 15-13.
Underwood dominated offensively, finishing the match with 16 kills. Corf followed, contributing 13 kills, along with Keen, who produced 12 kills.
The score leaves the Aztecs second in the MW with a 6-1 conference record, shortly falling behind an undefeated Utah State team.
Despite the loss, the team is looking forward to the upcoming games next week.
“We’ve played really well on the road, so hopefully we’ll continue that,” Hilliard said. “We’re finally getting healthy, so there’s no excuses.”
The Aztecs start their three-game road trip with a rematch against UNLV, on Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. in Las Vegas.
