Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, April 13
Los Angeles, CA
7 P.M.
Grand Canyon
at
USC
Playoffs begin at USC
4/11/2019 7:56:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
6th-seeded Lopes travel to No. 3 USC on Saturday
LOS ANGELES – The 15th ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team will travel to No. 5 USC on Saturday to kick off the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
The Lopes (13-15, 3-9) earned the No. 6 seed while the Trojans (16-9, 7-5) earned the No. 3 seed. The match is set to take place in USC's North Gym at 7 p.m. as there was a scheduling conflict with the Galen Center.
Saturday's match will be a true rubber match. The two sides split the season series this season and are 3-3 historically. Both teams earned wins on their home court with the Lopes taking the most recent tilt by way of a 3-1 victory on March 14.
Ahead of playoffs, the MPSF released all-conference honors that featured two Lopes. Outside hitter Christian Janke and libero Cole Udall earned All-Freshman honors, signaling a bright future for the young squad. Janke leads the Lopes in kills and aces while Udall has been solid on defense, leading in digs and first in the conference in digs per set during MPSF play.
Another Lope to watch is senior middle blocker Alex Shmelev. The Russia native has 108 total blocks on the season which is fourth most in program history. If Shmelev records six or more blocks to end the season he will pass GCU's all-time blocks leader, Ashton King for most in a single season.
The playoffs will have the volleyball world on notice as the MPSF is the only conference in the nation that has all teams ranked in the Top-15. GCU rounds out the conference at No. 15 after breaking back into the rankings for the first time since week three. During the last month, the Lopes defeated five ranked opponents and are playing their best volleyball of the season.
If the Lopes win, they will travel to host Pepperdine for the semi-finals. Pepperdine earned the top-seed in the conference followed by UCLA and USC. Stanford and BYU took the four and five seeds respectively with GCU sitting at six and Concordia-Irvine at seven.
SCOUTING:
USC | Saturday, 6 p.m. | Los Angeles, Calif. | North Gym
Fifth-ranked USC is in the midst of one of its most successful seasons in recent memory. Head coach Jeff Nygaard is in his fourth season at the helm and enjoying the most wins in his tenure with 16. The Trojans are dangerous at home with an 11-0 record in 2019. Saturday's game will not be played on their regular court in the Galen Center but instead will take place in the North Gym where Nygaard is 12-0. To add on to their successful season, four Trojans earned All-MSPF honors. Seniors Jack Wyett and Ryan Moss were named to the first team, Gianluca Grasso made second team and setter Chris Hall earned an honorable mention nod. The Lopes and Trojans are tied at 3-3 in their history.
The Lopes (13-15, 3-9) earned the No. 6 seed while the Trojans (16-9, 7-5) earned the No. 3 seed. The match is set to take place in USC's North Gym at 7 p.m. as there was a scheduling conflict with the Galen Center.
Saturday's match will be a true rubber match. The two sides split the season series this season and are 3-3 historically. Both teams earned wins on their home court with the Lopes taking the most recent tilt by way of a 3-1 victory on March 14.
Ahead of playoffs, the MPSF released all-conference honors that featured two Lopes. Outside hitter Christian Janke and libero Cole Udall earned All-Freshman honors, signaling a bright future for the young squad. Janke leads the Lopes in kills and aces while Udall has been solid on defense, leading in digs and first in the conference in digs per set during MPSF play.
Another Lope to watch is senior middle blocker Alex Shmelev. The Russia native has 108 total blocks on the season which is fourth most in program history. If Shmelev records six or more blocks to end the season he will pass GCU's all-time blocks leader, Ashton King for most in a single season.
The playoffs will have the volleyball world on notice as the MPSF is the only conference in the nation that has all teams ranked in the Top-15. GCU rounds out the conference at No. 15 after breaking back into the rankings for the first time since week three. During the last month, the Lopes defeated five ranked opponents and are playing their best volleyball of the season.
If the Lopes win, they will travel to host Pepperdine for the semi-finals. Pepperdine earned the top-seed in the conference followed by UCLA and USC. Stanford and BYU took the four and five seeds respectively with GCU sitting at six and Concordia-Irvine at seven.
SCOUTING:
USC | Saturday, 6 p.m. | Los Angeles, Calif. | North Gym
Fifth-ranked USC is in the midst of one of its most successful seasons in recent memory. Head coach Jeff Nygaard is in his fourth season at the helm and enjoying the most wins in his tenure with 16. The Trojans are dangerous at home with an 11-0 record in 2019. Saturday's game will not be played on their regular court in the Galen Center but instead will take place in the North Gym where Nygaard is 12-0. To add on to their successful season, four Trojans earned All-MSPF honors. Seniors Jack Wyett and Ryan Moss were named to the first team, Gianluca Grasso made second team and setter Chris Hall earned an honorable mention nod. The Lopes and Trojans are tied at 3-3 in their history.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's VolleyballSenior Reflections
Wednesday, April 15
Baptized at GCU
Tuesday, April 14
Singles off BOTH bags. ONE inning. 🤯 #baseball
Sunday, April 12
HOMER from the DRONE 🥎 #collegesoftball
Saturday, April 11