Ladyjacks Fall in WAC Championship Game

Saturday, November 18

Orem, UT

7:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

29-4,16-0WAC

Grand Canyon University

23-7,13-3WAC

Grand Canyon

SFA

Ladyjacks Fall in WAC Championship Game

11/19/2023 11:28:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

OREM, Utah- Stephen F. Austin's bid for a second consecutive WAC Championship Title fell just short as they were defeated by Grand Canyon University by a final score of 3-1 on Saturday evening.

The first set saw a large number of points runs from both sides as both teams gained leads only to see the other side even the score shortly after. GCU scored the first two points of the game, which was started by a kill from Stella Gkiourda. WAC Player of the Year Ielan Bradley scored the first point on the night for the Ladyjacks and the 'Jacks went on a 4-0 run early in the first set to take an early 5-4 lead. However, GCU responded promptly with a 6-1 run of their own and found themselves ahead 10-6. Camryn Hill helped spark an SFA rally shortly after as she recorded a kill and a service ace as part of a 4-0 SFA run to knot the score up at 10 apiece. GCU responded immediately to this 4-0 run with a 5-0 run of their own led by Tatum Parrott who recorded a pair of kills to put the Lopes up 15-10. GCU would go on two separate 3-0 runs at the end of the first set and they claimed a 25-18 win in the first set.

The second set saw GCU strike early as they went on an early 3-0 run to pull ahead 4-2. However, SFA had an answer for the GCU run as they went on an impressive 7-1 run of their own thanks to kills from Ielan Bradley, Camryn Hill, and Izabella Ortiz to vault ahead 9-5. The second set. The remainder of the second set was a back-and-forth affair as neither team led by more than three points. That all changed, however, when SFA leading 19-16 went on a 2-0 run and almost immediately followed that up with a 3-0 run to launch ahead 24-18. GCU scored two straight points to cut the deficit to 24-20 in favor of SFA, however Ielan Bradley slammed the door shut on any possible GCU rally with a kill to clinch a 25-20 victory for SFA in the second set and knot the score at one set apiece.

The third set saw plenty of offensive fireworks as it featured 11 ties and four lead changes between the two teams. GCU jumped in front early as they scored seven of the first ten points in the third set to put them ahead 7-3. However, the SFA offense trailing 8-4 found some rhythm as they rattled off seven straight points to lead ahead 11-8 thanks to a pair of kills from Ariana Pagan. The third set was a tightly contested set overall as neither team held more than a three-point lead until GCU got a pair of kills from Tatum Parrott to jump ahead 23-19. However, SFA would not go down without a fight as Ielan Bradley and Camryn Hill recorded back-to-back kills to pull SFA within two. With their backs to the walls and trailing 24-21, SFA refused to back down as they rattled off three straight points and this game was suddenly tied up at 24. Ielan Bradley answered the call for SFA as they were trailing 25-24 in a match point situation before Bradley recorded a kill to knot the game at 25 and force extra play in the third set. However, GCU was able to finish off the third set as they scored three straight to end the third set and claimed a nail-biting 29-27 win in extras to hold a slim 2-1 lead over SFA.

GCU came out firing in the fourth set as they once again scored nine of the first twelve points and found themselves ahead 9-3. The rest of the fourth set was a fairly contested affair as both teams exchanged points frequently with neither team scoring more than twice in a row until GCU leading 20-14 got a pair of kills from Tatum Parrott to jump ahead 23-14. The Ladyjacks trailing 24-15 and not going down without a fight, were able to tally three straight points and pulled within six of the Lopes. However, GCU had other plans for this one as Tatum Parrott recorded a kill for the final point of the fourth set and pushed GCU to a 3-1 win over SFA.

Two Ladyjacks recorded double-digit kills as Camryn Hill led the team with 13, while Ielan Bradley followed closely behind with 11. Hill recorded her seventh double-double of the season as she tacked on 16 digs to pair with her 13 kills and served up a team-leading two aces. Elsewhere on offense, Jayden Flynn and Maddy Bourque also recorded double-doubles for the Ladyjacks as Flynn dished out a team-leading 25 assists and added 16 digs, tied for second most on the team with Hill. Meanwhile, Bourque had 21 assists to finish second on the team and tallied 13 digs of her own to secure a double-double. Izabella Ortiz continues her dominant sophomore season as she added nine more blocks against GCU to pace all Ladyjacks and is currently top-10 in SFA history for season blocks. Ielan Bradley showed her versatility once again for SFA as in addition to her 11 kills, she was a force at the net finishing with seven blocks, which was tied with standout freshman Kyanna Creecy for second most on the team. Ariana Pagan had a strong all-around game for SFA as she finished the night with eight kills and led all SFA players with 19 digs. The 19 digs for Pagan were a season high total for her and she currently sits at sixth all-time in digs in SFA history.

The Ladyjacks season is not over yet despite the loss as they have two options for how the rest of their season plays out. The first involves the Ladyjacks receiving an at-large bid from the selection committee during the selection show which will be held next Sunday, November 26th at 5 p.m. CST. If the Ladyjacks are not given an at-large bid from the selection committee, they will then host an NIVC tournament game with the opponent yet to be announced.