(St. George, Utah – Sept. 23, 2023) - The Trailblazer volleyball team fell in straight sets to Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon at Burns Arena.

Utah Tech (4-8/0-2 WAC) saw Grand Canyon (9-4/2-0 WAC) win sets, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 as the Blazers were dealt their second straight sweep.

The Trailblazers were led in kills by sophomore Kennedi Knudsen with eight and she added a team-high two service aces. Setter Taela Laufiso tallied a team-leading 22 assists and three blocks while Emma Ricks had a team-best 11 digs.

A back-and-forth opening set saw the Blazers get within one at 17-16 after a kill by Knudsen. A 6-1 run for the Lopes pushed the visitors lead to 23-17 and after the teams traded points, Utah Tech was able to fend off four straight set points to pull within two at 24-22 before a GCU kill ended the Blazers threat.

The second set saw the Blazers use a 4-0 run to tie up play at 11 after blocks from Laufiso and Elise Porter. Back-to-back kills from Knudsen and Hannah Howard got the Blazers back within three at 21-18, but the Lopes were able to secure four of the final five points in the set to go ahead two sets to none.

The Blazers looked to stave off the sweep in the third set jumping out to an 11-6 lead and extended it to six at 15-9 after a GCU attack error before the Lopes closed out the match on a 16-4 run.

The Lopes were able to hold an advantage over the Trailblazers in kills (45-30), service aces (6-4), blocks (6-4), digs (56-47) and hitting percentage (.309-.127).

Utah Tech heads to UT Rio Grande Valley (7-8/1-1 WAC) next Saturday (Sept. 30) for a 1 p.m. MT contest.