No. 15 GCU heads to George Mason for back-to-back

Saturday, January 6

Fairfax, Va.

3 P.M.

Grand Canyon

George Mason

1/5/2018 2:01:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Lopes look to build on strong start against Patriots

By: Alex Nash


Grand Canyon Lopes (1-0, 0-0 MPSF)	vs	George Mason Patriots (0-0, 0-0 (EIVA)	George Mason Patriots (0-0, 0-0 (EIVA)
		Sat, Jan. 6 at 3 p.m. MST	Sun, Jan. 7 at 11 a.m. MST
		Live Stats	Live Stats

FAIRFAX – Coming off a win in the season opener No. 15 GCU men's volleyball team, will travel to Fairfax, VA for a back-to-back with George Mason. The Patriots kick their season off on Friday night before facing the Lopes on Saturday and Sunday. Matches start at 3 p.m. and 11 a.m. (MST) respectively.

The Lopes are coming off a 3-1 win at Barton College on Thursday night. After a close opening set and dropping the second, GCU finished strong and gathered momentum heading into George Mason with the set scores being 25-20, 17-25, 25-18 and 25-21. GCU led Barton in almost all categories including, kills, digs, hitting percentage and blocks.

Will Schwob and Puna Kaniho led the offense on Thursday with Schwob recording 18 kills and a .324 hitting percentage while Kaniho recorded 45 assists and five digs. Kaniho would go on to receive Offensive Player of the Night honors from Off the Block.

Congrats to @GCU_MVolleyball setter @punerss on being the OTB National Offensive Player of the Night https://t.co/heg5ySV8wM
— Off the Block (@offtheblock11) January 5, 2018

Cody Williams and Caleb Blazer are also coming off hot starts. Williams saw double digit kills with 15 while attacking at a .481 percentage, while Blazer had a match-best seven blocks, two solo. The Lopes came together and played team volleyball last night and look to carry that play over to Virginia this weekend.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION

George Mason will open their season on Friday when they face Limestone College, who GCU will see next weekend. The Patriots finished 13-14 in 2017 and posted a 6-8 EIVA conference record. They were selected to finished third in the EIVA preseason Coaches' poll.

The Patriots are returning three starters plus their libero from 2017 to go along with 13 returning letter winners. After battling injuries last season, George Mason returns key players including former Second Team All-EIVA selection Christian Malias and former EIVA Newcomer of the Year Radoslav Popov. Two time All-EIVA selection Johnny Gomez will also be returning this year.

This will be the seventh and eighth meeting between GCU and George Mason with the Patriots leading the all-time series 5-1. 2015 was the last time the two sides met when the Patriots swept the Lopes 3-0.