Grand Canyon Men Earn Senior Night Sweep

  0 Wendy Mayer | April 05th, 2017 | College - Men's Indoor

Match Stats

  • No. 15 Grand Canyon 3, Concordia 0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-20)
  • Grand Canyon moves to 17-10; Concordia falls to 16-11
  • Phoenix
  • Attendance: 562
  • Box Score

The newly-minted No. 15 Grand Canyon men wrapped up their regular season with a sweep of Concordia (CA) on Tuesday. The Antelopes won the match 25-21, 25-21, 25-20 behind a .451 team hitting effort.

Senior opposite Matthew Kinnebrew led all hitters with 13 kills, while hitting at an amazing .684 clip (13 kills, no errors in 19 swings) in his final regular season home match. He also pulled up a team-best six digs and accounted for three blocks. Junior outside hitter Cody Williams tallied 12 kills on a .524 hitting effort. Senior middle blocker Drake Silbernagel managed nine kills and a team-leading four blocks. Redshirt junior outside Cullen Mosher added seven kills and a team-best three aces.

Senior opposite Ryan Anselmo led the Eagles with nine kills and five digs. Junior outside Jonathan Predney added eight kills, while junior middle Taylor Falduti chipped in six putaways and a team-high three blocks, while hitting at a team-best .556 clip.

GCU hit .451 for the match, while Concordia managed a .243 effort. The Antelopes also bested the Eagles in aces (5-2) and blocks (6-4).

GCU hit .443 in the opening set, while holding Concordia to a .071 effort. The Eagles, however, held the early lead at 6-2, thanks to a trio of Antelope errors. GCU worked its way back to take a 9-8 lead, but Concordia scored three straight to go up 11-9. Grand Canyon led by one two more times, at 12-11 and 13-12, but the Eagles bounced back with an ace, a block and a Antelope miscue to lead 15-13. Grand Canyon rallied to score 12 of the final 18 points to steal away the win. Four Eagle errors and two kills apiece from Ashten King and Kinnebrew aided the final rally.

Concordia controlled the early part of Set 2 as well, leading 10-6 behind three kills each by Predney and Anselmo. Two kills, a block and an ace by Mosher pulled GCU into a tie at 14-all. The teams tied at 15 and 16, but the Eagles maintained the edge at 18-16. Grand Canyon turned the tables and wrapped the set on a 9-3 run. Silbernagel had a pair of kills and Mosher added another ace in the final stretch.

The Antelopes ended the night with a .517 hitting performance in Set 3. Three straight Williams kills put GCU on top 7-4 early and the team built the advantage to four at 12-8 on a block by Silbernagel and Kinnebrew. A few rare Grand Canyon miscues coupled with kills by three different Concordia players knotted the score at 17-all. Three kills and a block by the senior Kinnebrew gave GCU some cushion at 21-17. The teams traded points over the next six serves before a Kinnebrew kill sealed the senior night victory.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy: Grand Canyon Athletics

PHOENIX — The GCU men’s volleyball team validated their new No. 15 ranking on Tuesday night by defeating Concordia Irvine in three straight sets, 25-21, 25-21 and 25-20. The Lopes take a 17-10 record into the playoffs while the Eagles drop to 16-11. It was a storybook ending for the four seniors, Jacob Thibodeau, Matthew Kinnebrew, Drake Silbernagel and Michael Milstein, as they were honored before their last regular season match. Team manager Fletcher Like was also recognized for his contributions to the team over the past four seasons.

The first set started out with back and forth play by the teams. GCU fell behind early, down 6-2, before fighting back into the set and forcing Concordia into a timeout with the score tied at 16. The Lopes broke the tie and didn’t look back, taking the set 25-21 thanks to key kills down the stretch by Ashton King and Kinnebrew.

In Set 2, Concordia again came out hot and led 7-3 early. GCU battled back, cut down on errors and tied the set at 20. The Lopes would score five of the next six points to take a two set lead. Set 3 was all Lopes as they never trailed after being tied 4-4 to start play. GCU attacked at an outstanding .517 percentage in the third set and ended up with a 25-20 set win.

The seniors made the most of their night with Kinnebrew leading all players with 13 kills and 15.5 points. Fellow senior Silbernagel led the team with four blocks and added nine kills while outside hitter Cody Williams contributed 12 kills during the match. Cullen Mosher had a great night from behind the service line, recording three aces to lead all players. Setter Milstein had another impressive outing with 39 assists. “This was a nice way to cap off a Senior Night!” GCU head coach Matt Werle commented. “All four Seniors had a huge impact on tonight’s win: Michael [Milstein] with 39 assists, Drake [Silbernagel] with 9 kills hitting over .500, Jake [Thibodeau] passed very well and allowed our middles to get involved, and Matthew [Kinnebrew] was unstoppable offensively with 13 kills, hitting .684.  These four will be missed greatly in seasons to come, but they are not finished yet!”

Next, GCU will host a first round home game in the MIVA playoffs for only the second time in school history. The game is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 15th and the Lopes opponent will be determined after conference play concludes this weekend.

 

Courtesy: Concordia Athletics

The Eagles dropped a match in three sets to Grand Canyon University Tuesday night in Phoenix, Ariz. at the mercy of the Lopes’ efficient offense. Grand Canyon hit .451 as a team with 46 kills, while Concordia combined for .243 with 30 kills.

The 21-25, 21-25, 20-25 loss sits the Eagles at 17-11 with only one game remaining in the 2017 season.

Taylor Falduti was the Eagles’ most effective asset. The middle blocker hit .556 with six kills on nine swings.

Despite going up 6-2 in the first set, the Lopes went on a 6-2 scoring run to tie the game at eight. The teams traded points until GCU established a 22-19 lead on an Eagle hitting error. They closed on the game 25-21 on a kill from Ashton King.

Once again in game two, the Eagles charged to a 6-2 lead. But the Lopes chipped away at Concordia’s lead and evened the score at 15 all. Grand Canyon then used a series of Eagle errors take a 20-19 lead. They won five of the next seven points to secure the set two victory.

After a four-all tie, Concordia let the third match slip away to an unstoppable Lopes’ offense that hit .517.

Concordia concludes its season Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Mesa, Ariz. against Benedictine.

 

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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