PHOENIX — The Santa Clara University volleyball team ran into another tough host team on its own home court Sunday, as Grand Canyon swept the Broncos, 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-17), in the championship game of the GCU Invitational at GCU Arena.
The Broncos (3-3) won each of their first two matches on the weekend in dominating fashion, but the Lopes (5-1) held a Santa Clara offense that had hit .450 a day before to only .111 hitting on Sunday.
"I think every opportunity we have to get on the court, we're taking something from it," said Santa Clara head coach Erin Lindsey. "It gives us the opportunity to look at ourselves as individuals and as a group to find out what led to that execution."
Oren Abutbul led Santa Clara with seven kills. Julia Sangiacomo had five and Lexi Poppinga had four with no errors for a .444 hitting percentage. Kat Georgiadis collected 10 digs for the second time in the tournament, finishing with 3.6 digs per set for the weekend. Georgiadis and Sangiacomo were both named to the GCU Invitational All-Tournament team.
"It's frustrating that it wasn't a closer match because of our inability to serve as well as we need to, and pass," said Lindsey. "The serving piece, it was working at times, but we weren't attacking when (Grand Canyon) was out of system. They were pretty comfortable.
The Santa Clara defense held strong against the Lopes in the first two, limiting them to .239 hitting through the first two sets. But GCU got into a groove in the third set to seal the match and prevent a Santa Clara comeback. The Broncos led the third set, 10-9, and were still within one point at 13-12 GCU, but Grand Canyon went on an 11-3 run to get to 24-15 and all but seal the match. That run included seven kills, a service ace, and three Santa Clara errors.
Grand Canyon hit .400 in the third and final set. McKenzie Wise led all players with 12 kills and a .476 hitting percentage. Megan Taflinger had nine terminations, and Melanie Brecka had six. Tatum Thomas led the match with 15 digs.
Santa Clara opens the home portion of their 2022 schedule on Friday with a three-day, four-team tournament at Leavey Center. The Broncos will welcome Oklahoma, Fresno State and Tulane for the three-day event. Tickets are on sale at SantaClaraBroncos.com. All live coverage links can be found on the volleyball schedule page.
"We're very much looking forward to (playing at home)," said Lindsey. "It'll be very tough competition, especially Oklahoma in the first match. We're excited to host them and have them come into our gym."
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