Kansas City
6-7
Grand Canyon
12-2
Volleyball Can't Overcome Two Set Deficit, Falls to GCU
9/30/2019 11:05:00 PM | Volleyball
Short-handed Roos Battle to Take Lopes to Four
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City Volleyball could not quite overcome a depleted roster and poor hitting on Monday evening as they fell to Grand Canyon, 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25-22). Alicia Harrington continued her hot play from Saturday against CBU, finishing with 16 kills, including 11 in the last two sets, but the Roos had no answer for the Lopes' Kaira Moss, who finished with a game-high 18 kills on .441 hitting percentage.
The Roos started hot in set one, building an 8-2 lead and forcing a timeout from GCU Coach Tim Nollan. The timeout flipped a switch for Grand Canyon as they rattled off the next four points, and were able to continue cutting into the lead before pulling ahead 18-16. Kansas City continued battling, but could never pull back ahead, falling 25-21.
"We caught them off guard a little bit," Kansas City Associate Head Coach Trent Jones said. "The rotations we were in were good rotations for us, but then we got into rotations where we weren't as successful, and they had a matchup that was preferable to them."
The first set victory gave the Lopes fire heading into the second set, as it seemed they could not miss. They finished with 17 kills in the second set on .371 hitting percentage, and never let the Roos get into a serving rhythm as they converted an 82% side out rate. Kansas City kept it close to 10-10, but an 8-2 scoring run gave Grand Canyon all they needed to pull out the set.
Something changed between the second and third sets in favor of the Roos. They seemed to have more energy, which translated into better defense. They were stout at the net, finishing with 3.5 total blocks in the set, and held GCU to .048 hitting. Additionally, Alicia Harrington began to find her swing. She found hardwood on five swings, followed by Melanie Brecka with four kills, and Mykal Sadler with three. Alli Schomers also had all three of her kills in the third.Â
"One thing that we've been working on as a team is our fight and our effort in fighting," Schomers said. "We all bought in and said, 'We're at home, we have to defend our home court.' I think it mainly came from picking up the little things that we had kind of been letting go in the first two sets."
The fourth set saw both teams trading punches back and forth. After Grand Canyon jumped out to an 11-5 lead, Kansas City picked up its game. Harrington could not be stopped, throwing down six kills on a .500 hitting percentage, including back-to-back kills that tied the game up at 21-21. Grand Canyon, however, finished the match with three straight points to steal away the set and the match.
"In set four, we started figuring some things out and got into rotations where we had the advantage, and that's why the fourth set was as tight as it was, I think both teams were playing pretty equally." Jones said.Â
In the battle between the Sep. 23-29 Western Athletic Conference Offensive (Ty Lukes) and Defensive (Klaire Mitchell) Players of the Week, both competed at a high level. Lukes finished the match with six kills and four blocks, and Mitchell elevated her play appropriately, ending with 44 assists, 10 digs, five blocks and three kills.
Kansas City finishes its WAC-opening homestand at 2-1, and will have a break to rest and travel to Chicago before taking on Chicago State on Friday.
"We'd much rather have the three wins," Jones said. "I think we can beat that team on a different day, but if we can't get that we'll take two out of three."
