GCU kicks off tourney with win

Friday, January 24

St. Charles, Mo.

Noon

Grand Canyon

4-2,0-0MPSF

McKendree

3-3,0-0MIVA

McKendree

Grand Canyon

1/24/2020 2:16:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes take down McKendree 3-1 at Lindenwood Invitational

By: Cassidy Mace

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team kicked off its weekend at the Lindenwood Invitational with a Friday win over McKendree. The Lopes (4-2) went to four sets with the Bearcats (3-3) in St. Charles, Mo., finishing with a 25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18 win.

Sophomore Hugo Fischer led the Lopes with 19 kills on a .452 hitting percentage. The opposite outhit his career high by 12, while also picking up five block assists and eight digs. GCU redshirt freshman outside hitter Camden Gianni had a standout match as well, collecting a career-high 15 kills, three digs, two blocks, one assist and one service ace.

"Any win away from home is a good win," Lopes head coach Matt Werle said. "We are still doing a number of things that are unacceptable — lack of service pressure, silly errors at bad times, free ball execution, etc. I am proud that we overcame a very quiet gym and pulled away in the fourth set against a well-coached team. There is still a lot of work to do."

The Lopes came out strong with a 25-20 win in the first set. Gianni picked up the first kill for GCU and collected five kills in the first set. The score stayed within one point through the majority of the set, until the Lopes broke out with a 4-0 run to go up 23-18. GCU recorded four blocks in the set, with Fischer and junior middle blocker Ian McLain pairing up for three in the last seven points of the set.

GCU got off to a slow start in the second set, trailing 5-3. Despite another five-kill set from Gianni and four more from Fischer, the Lopes were unable to take the lead and fell 25-21 to even the match.

Bouncing back from a difficult second set, the Lopes went on a 4-0 run early in the third set thanks to back-to-back service aces from sophomore middle blocker Kyle Thompson. A competitive McKendree team tied the match at 8-8 before pulling ahead 16-12 with a 7-1 run. The Lopes answered with a 7-2 run as Fischer contributed four kills to push the Lopes ahead 19-18. GCU used the momentum to extend the lead to 23-20 and finished the set win with kills from Fischer and McLain.

The Lopes stepped up on offense quickly in the fourth set with Fischer and sophomore outside hitter Christian Janke collecting two kills each to give GCU a 7-4 lead. The Lopes then went on a 6-0 run with sophomore setter Heath Hughes at the service line to go up 15-7. GCU secured its first 10-point lead (20-10) on a service ace from setter Tanner Petchul. The Bearcats battled back to reach 18 points, but the Lopes took the set and match point with a final kill from Fischer for a 25-18 win.

The Lopes are back in action on Saturday against Lindenwood at 6 p.m. (Phoenix time).