Top-10 teams await Lopes

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team heads to Palo Alto, Calif., on Thursday to take on No. 8 Stanford before traveling to Provo, Utah, to face No. 9 BYU on Saturday.

This will be the last road trip for the Lopes until March 28. The Lopes (7-8, 0-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are amid a nine-match streak of ranked opponents. The stretch started Friday, when No. 5 Pepperdine came to Antelope Gym for the MPSF home opener. GCU took the Waves to five sets behind one of their most complete matches of the season but ultimately fell in front of 1,011 fans.

GCU hit .373 against Pepperdine to rank in the national top five for hitting percentage in a five-set match.

Sophomore opposite David Kisiel continued his impressive play that started at Concordia-Irvine. After recording a team season-high 22 kills against the Eagles, the Arizona native collected 28 against Pepperdine. His performance stands tied for the fourth-most kills in a single match in program history. On defense, Kisiel set a new career high in blocks with six.

Several Lopes set career-best marks against Pepperdine on Friday night. Sophomore setter Onur Cukur tallied 52 assists to go along with 12 digs for his first double-double. Sophomore middle blocker Ian McLain recorded five kills, five blocks, one dig and one assist to reset his career marks.

Defense continues to be the focus for GCU. As a team, the Lopes lead the MPSF in opponent hitting percentage, rank second in blocks per set (behind BYU) and third in digs per set. GCU's 2.33 blocks per set is among the top 10 in the NCAA.

After the short road trip, the Lopes return home for seven straight matches in March.

SCOUTING:

Stanford | Thursday, 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Palo Alto, Calif.

Stanford is in the midst of a resurgence this season. After going 8-20 and finishing last in the MPSF in 2018, the Cardinal hold a No. 8 ranking heading into Thursday's match. Stanford swept the MPSF player of the week honor's this past week with opposite Jaylen Jasper winning offensive honors and libero Kyle Dagostino winning defensive honors. Jasper is having himself a year, to say the least. The opposite has 206 kills and 14 aces, leading his team in both categories. He is currently sixth in the nation in kills per set. In their four meetings, the Lopes have failed to beat the Cardinal.

BYU | Saturday, 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Provo, Utah

After starting the season 4-0, BYU ran into some trouble when that record was flipped over the next four matches. The Cougars fell to three top-15 opponents before getting back on track against Concordia-Irvine and USC. BYU is the only team in the MPSF that ranks above GCU in blocks per set. The Cougars average 2.37 versus GCU's 2.33. BYU has a two-headed monster this year in Gabi Garcia Fernandez and Davide Gardini. The two lead the team in kills and blocks. Their combined kills account for more than half of the team's season total. The Lopes are 0-2 all-time against the Cougars.

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Players Mentioned

Onur Cukur

David Kisiel

Ian McLain

Grand Canyon University Athletics