SAN DIEGO - San Diego State volleyball (11-8, 6-2 MW) couldn’t extend their win streak on Thursday, suffering a heartbreaking five-set loss to Grand Canyon (11-8, 3-5 MW), 25-23, 25-16, 30-28, 25-15, 15-13.

By the end of the game, the Scarlet and Black had three players in double digits with kills (Taylor Underwood (16), Madison Corf (14), Amber Keen (12)) but the Lopes dominated the net over the Aztecs 21-8 in blocks.

In the first set, the Aztecs got an early lead of 15-6, but the Aztecs couldn’t stop the Lopes when they went on three different runs of 5 or more, including a demoralizing 7-0 run to close out the set, 25-23. .

“We lose focus, we lose concentration, we lose confidence,” said Brent Hilliard, SDSU’s head coach, when asked about the GCU runs.

The Aztecs seemed to find their rhythm in the second set, going on a 7-1 run. The Aztecs benefitted from 10 errors by the Lopes compared to only four of their own to win the second handily, 25-16.

The Lopes led or tied through 27-all in the third, until the Aztecs strung together two points at 28-28 to secure the set. Both teams had 20 kills apiece. The Lopes continued their dominance at the net with five blocks while SDSU had zero.

After losing the fourth set, 25-15, the final set brought the tension in Peterson Gym with nine ties and three lead changes. When at a 13-10 deficit, Aztec Taylor Underwood slammed down a kill to get to 13-11. GCU’s Macy Hughes responded with a kill of her own on the next play to get to set point at 14-11.SDSU’s Keen and Underwood saved set points with kills on the next two points, to get to 14-13. However, the Lopes’ Anaelena Ramirez got the kill to close out the match.

“We’ll see if we can figure it out, but we need some players to step up,” said Hilliard. “We’re finally getting healthy and so there’s no excuses.”

On Oct 18, SDSU lost their second in a row at UNLV (10-8, 4-4 MW) in four sets. The losses drop SDSU to third place in the Mountain West conference to Utah State and Colorado State.