In Short…
Grand Canyon upset Loyola in five sets on Friday night (March 8). Despite the loss, Will Tischler posted a match-high 19 kills to surpass 500 for his career, while teammate Avery Aylsworth also notched his 500^th career dig.
 
Coach Hulse's Thoughts
"I thought we hung together well in a tough environment, but the other team just played better volleyball tonight," head coach Mark Hulse said. "We need to rest up and be better tomorrow."
 
How It Happened
Collin Mahan's third kill of the opening set tied the score up at 8-8, but it marked the last time the Ramblers would be tied with the Lopes. Back-to-back kills from GCU's Christian Janke sprung the Lopes loose and put the home team ahead and in charge for good. After the lead hit four at 15-11, the Ramblers managed to cut it to one on two occasions at 16-15 and 17-16. Loyola would not allow the Lopes' lead to get beyond four before the 21-18 mark, but a 5-0 GCU run to close it out won the set at 25-18.
 
The teams battled in the second set to another 8-8 score. From there, the Ramblers took control of the tempo with a 4-1 run that was capped off by a Mahan service ace. The scoring spurt was widened to a 6-1 stretch with two kills and a triple-block by the Ramblers that forced a GCU timeout. Now with its biggest lead of the match at 15-10, Loyola didn't let up and capitalized on another scoring burst to take leads of 18-12 and 20-13. A Kyler Kotsakis service ace kept the pressure on and widened the lead to eight at 22-14 – the Ramblers' first of two eight-point leads in the stanza. Loyola split the final points at three apiece, but the large lead provided a 25-17 set two win.
 
Grand Canyon jumped out to a 4-0 lead to force Hulse to burn an early set three timeout. The pause in the action paid dividends as the Ramblers battled back with a 4-0 run that tied it at 7-7. The Lopes still controlled the tempo and held the lead to the 13-11 mark, however, a Paul Narup service ace tied it later on, and a Kyle Piekarski block gave Loyola its first lead of the stanza – the one and only lead change of the swing-set. The Ramblers weren't done, as another 3-0 run propelled the visitors in front at 17-14, capped off by Luke Denton's third ace of the night and the 100^th of the season for Loyola as a team. Grand Canyon worked the deficit to two at 20-18, but Loyola shined down the stretch with five of the final seven points to capture the third set, 25-20, and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Lopes would not be eliminated in four. Two early 3-0 runs put them on top and in the driver's seat at a 9-5 clip. The lead was later extended to 15-9 anchored by a 4-1 run. The Ramblers battled and brought the frame back to within striking distance, highlighted by Kotsakis' second and third aces of the night in back-to-back fashion. Despite only leading 19-17, GCU took care of business down the stretch to win the fourth, 25-20, and force a decisive fifth set.
 
Unfortunately for the Ramblers, the GCU momentum carried over to the fifth frame. Two separate 3-0 runs put the home team on top with leads of 3-1 and 6-3 that gave them the upper hand. After a Rambler timeout, the Lopes worked the lead to five at 10-5 and forced another timeout. Tischler and Piekarski each picked up kills later on, but the Lopes ran away with the final set by a score of 15-9.
 
A Look at the Numbers
-Paul Narup picked up two solo blocks to increase his seaosn total to 12. He needs four blocks to hold sole possession of 9th in program history for career stoppers.
-Avery Aylsworth set a season-high in digs with 15, while Kyle Piekarski tied his season-high with 12 kills.
-The Ramblers' nine service aces tied the team season-high for most in a match. Kyler Kotsakis accounted for three of them, setting a new personal best.
-Collin Mahan tallied 11 kills to increase his total to 238 this season. He has now reached the 230-kill benchmark in each of the last three seasons.
 
Up Next
Loyola takes on the Lopes once more tomorrow night (March 9) at the same time inside Antelope Gymnasium.