As his volleyball coach at Grand Canyon, Matt Werle asked Sean Saxton to do things that would bring out the best in Saxton.
That was much easier to do Sunday when Werle was the minister for Saxton's wedding.
More than three years have passed since Saxton last played volleyball for GCU, but the depth of his bonds to the program and the university showed when Werle married him to Tara Scibona, a GCU bachelor's and master's graduate and admissions counselor, with six groomsmen who were former Lopes teammates.
       Tara Scibona and Sean Saxton
"It's a testament to the culture, both within the university and within the men's volleyball team," said Saxton, a Shamrock Foods branch associate marketing manager. "It wasn't even a question that those guys were all going to be included."
Werle became ordained to minister weddings last year when two former GCU employees, Marshall women's volleyball head coach Ari Aganus and her husband, Jake, asked him to marry them. He then handled the local official signing ceremony for GCU associate athletic director of business operations Mark Wilty and his wife, Amanda, because they married in Mexico.
Saxton became friends with Werle once his career as a middle blocker ended, from when he and Scibona moved to Chicago until their return to the Phoenix area.
"Matt, we have a question," Saxton said as he and Scibona visited Werle and his wife, Sarah, one night.
"I was I like, 'Oh, shoot,' " Werle said. "I knew what was coming. It's one of those things that it's such an honor but it's such a daunting, scary task because it's the biggest day in people's lives. It's an overwhelming thing to be such a big part of someone's day like that.
"I think it's super special. It's one of the things that is so rewarding about coaching. This is an alum that I once coached and I'm now really close with as a friend. To ask me to do this was very flattering and humbling."
Werle was a Lopes graduate assistant for Saxton's first three years on campus before returning as the interim head coach for Saxton's senior season in 2016, when he also received his master's degree in Business Administration from GCU. Scibona also has a GCU graduate degree and included four GCU graduates as bridesmaids.
They met at GCU upon literally running into each other at an admissions building door in July 2015. When Saxton's boss asked him to take Scibona to her car in a golf cart because of the heat, it was the icing on their future wedding cake.
The GCU foundation of their wedded bliss was marked during the Sunday ceremony by Werle's purple tie, throwback logo on his folder, a GCU-influenced sermon and Lopes volleyball T-shirts worn under groomsmen tuxes at The Landmark in Mesa. It was one of the tallest wedding parties – and most awkward dance floors -- with Saxton (6 feet 9) and former teammates Keith Smith (6-5), Aquiles Montoya III (6-6), Keaton Berry (6-5), Andrew Muys (6-5), Nicholas Ali (6-8) and Christian Ward (6-9). Smith, his co-best man with his brother, Ian (6-9), is a second-year Lopes assistant coach.
The familiar surroundings did not take away the pressure Werle felt, but he tied the knot smoothly on a match made in GCU heaven.
"I could go into a team meeting or a tough playoff match and not be nervous," Werle said. "This is extremely nerve-wracking. There's a lack of comfort just because of the lack of experience. I know everybody's listening but probably looking at the bride and groom, so eyes are somewhere else. That's what I had to keep telling myself."
ee in Business Administration from GCU. Scibona also has a GCU graduate degree and included four GCU graduates as bridesmaids.
