PHOENIX -- The Southern Utah volleyball team took on the Grand Canyon Lopes on Friday night where they fell 3-2. Despite their loss, the Thunderbirds put up a strong fight, and claimed their first set victory of the year.

In the first set, the Lopes jumped out to a 10-3 lead. After a time out the T-Birds started to fight back. However, the set ended with a score of 25-15 for the Lopes.

The Thunderbirds started the second set on a 7-1 run. They maintained a lead of at least 5 points over the course of the period. The T-Birds finished the set with a score of 25-19 and tied the match at 1-1.

Thunderbird head coach Pete Hoyer said the change from the first to the second set was a big positive, but there was a lot more that went into it than might have appeared.

"The first set I don't think was anything physically they did to us, but it absolutely had to do with their introductions, and all the hoopla with it being their home opener and them having a good crowd," he said. "Once we settled down, even at the end of the first set, we started to compete a little bit. We made quite a few lineup changes, and in the second set we decided to have fun playing volleyball and that changed things dramatically."

During the third set, the Thunderbirds started off with a lead of 8-2. The Lopes tried to catch up to the T-Birds after they called a time out. They finally caught the Thunderbirds at the end of the set when they tied 23-23. The two teams went back and forth until the Thunderbirds pulled ahead finishing the set 30-28.

The score stayed close between the T-Birds and the Lopes at the beginning of the fourth set. The Lopes started to pull the lead as the set continued. They finished the fourth with a score of 25-16.

In the final set the Thunderbirds stayed close to the Lopes until GCU pulled ahead 7-3. The Thunderbirds tried to catch up, but the Lopes maintained the lead. Grand Canyon finished the game with a score of 15-8 and took a 3-2 victory on their home court.

"It's an important part of the journey," Hoyer said about going all five sets. "Obviously we would have all liked to come out on top of this one, but sometimes this is the way we've got to roll. We've got to go through this stuff."

Janet Kalaniuvalu finished the match with 14 kills. Miranda Canez finished with 11. Alexis Averett had 34 assists in the contest, while Miahna Waters (19), Thea Leiataua (17) and Rylee Rogers (14) all finished with double-figure digs.

The Thunderbirds will be taking on Boston College at 12:30 p.m. followed by Jacksonville State University at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Stay updated on the Thunderbirds 24/7 by following @SUUVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram along with liking the Southern Utah Volleyball page on Facebook.