(St. George, Utah - Oct. 10, 2024) - The Trailblazer volleyball team avoided a sweep, but fell in four sets on Thursday night to visiting Grand Canyon at Burns Arena.
Utah Tech (9-6, 3-2 WAC), who has dropped back-to-back matches for only the second time this season, fell in the first two sets, 22-25, before winning the third set, 25-20.
Grand Canyon (11-5, 4-1 WAC) finished out the match with a 25-12 win in the fourth set for the victory.
The Trailblazers were led in kills by junior outside hitter
Kennedi Knudsen with 11 to go along with eight digs and three block assists.
Sophomore libero
Mya Laufiso tallied a career-best 26 digs while junior middle blocker
Casidy Fried collected a season-best 10 blocks.
The Blazers got out to a 13-12 lead in the opening set after blocks by Fried and
Hannah Howard, but the Lopes went on an 8-1 run to push ahead by six at 20-14.
With GCU on the brink of set point leading 24-17, the Blazers rallied for five points to pull within two before a kill gave Grand Canyon a 1-0 set lead.
A GCU attack error got the Trailblazers out to a 9-4 lead in the second set, but a 9-2 run for the Lopes put GCU back in front, 13-11.
After a kill by the Blazers'
Lusia Langi locked up the set at 18 apiece, a 5-1 run for GCU put the Lopes ahead by four (23-19). UT was only able to get back within a pair by the end of the set as the Lopes took the set by three.
Getting out to a hot start to begin the third set, the Trailblazers led 9-5 after a block by Langi and Howard.
With the set locked up in a tie at 13-13, an 8-3 run for UT extended their lead to 21-16. The Blazers notched the final three points of the set with three straight kills for the five-point set win.
Unfortunately for the Blazers, it was all Lopes in the fourth set. GCU jumped out to an 11-6 lead and pushed ahead by as many as 14 after a 10-1 run put the Lopes ahead, 21-7, going on to take the set, 25-12.
With the match seeing ties in both blocks (14-14) and digs (77-77), the Lopes led the match in kills (54-46) and service aces (8-5).
The Trailblazers close out the weekend on Saturday afternoon facing California Baptist (1-16, 1-4 WAC) at 1 p.m. at Burns Arena.
