Grand Canyon University Athletics
Carolina-bound spikers looking to add to win total
1/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
With the program's initial win under its belt, the GCU men's volleyball team wants more where that came from.
To North Carolina they go in hopes of returning with three more victories.
"I honestly believe anything less than 3-0 will be a disappointing weekend," said GCU coach Chad Speer.
The Lopes take on King College, Lees-McRae and Mt. Olive in Mt. Olive, N.C. Friday and Saturday.
It will be a season-opening weekend for all three Antelope opponents. GCU is hopeful to benefit from a weekend of work already in the books.
The Lopes showed great progress in each of last weekend's three matches. They opened with losses to UC Santa Cruz, a Division III Final Four team last year. GCU was more competitive in the second meeting. It's third match of the weekend was a win over Holy Names.
"We learned a lot about what we need to work on," said freshman Patrick Winn (pictured on main page). "We know more about what's good for us and what worked best for us to help us win."
Both Lees-McRae and Mt. Olive are NCAA Division II schools. King College is an NAIA program.
"It's huge (to have already played matches)," added Speer. "I know we can win at this level from seeing what we did. Now we just have to put all the pieces together and be consistent with it and keep playing at a high level night in and night out."
Speer and the Antelopes are hopeful to add a few pieces to the puzzle as early as this weekend. Sophomore outside hitter Brock Hutchins (pictured) may become eligible to play in North Carolina. He is a transfer from the University of Hawaii and is expected to deliver an immediate impact.
This is the first of two trips to North Carolina for the first-year program. GCU will return Feb. 20 to play at Lees-McRae against the host school, King College, Mount Olive and Eastern Mennonite. It will be the last of six road trips in seven weeks. The team will visit California, Illinois, and Indiana, too, before the first-ever home match at Antelope Gym on March 1 against Loyola-Chicago.
