No. 8 GCU faces 2 matches in Irvine

Thursday, February 27

Irvine, Calif.

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Concordia Irvine

Photo by: Mathew McGraw

2/26/2020 8:17:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Match Notes

Lopes take momentum to Concordia, No. 7 UC Irvine

By: Cassidy Mace


Grand Canyon Lopes (12-3, 4-1 MPSF)	vs	Concordia Irvine Eagles (7-10, 1-4 MPSF)	UC Irvine Anteaters (7-7, 0-2 Big West)
		Thursday, Feb. 27 8 p.m. Phoenix Time CU Arena Irvine, Calif.	Friday, Feb. 28 8 p.m. Phoenix Time Bren Events Center Irvine, Calif.
Match Notes		Live Video Live Stats	Live Stats

The No. 8 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team travels to Irvine, California, this week to take on Concordia Irvine and No. 7 UC Irvine. The Lopes are coming off a 2-0 weekend at home, where they defeated then-No. 8 UCLA and then-No. 6 Pepperdine, both in four sets.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

RANKED: The Lopes earned their highest national ranking ever Monday, coming in at No 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 15 Poll. GCU broke into the rankings for the first time this season on Feb.17 at No. 13
PUTTING UP STATS: GCU ranks in the top 10 nationally in five statistical categories. The Lopes are sixth in aces per set (1.86) and winning percentage (.800). They also rank eighth in assists per set (11.88), hitting percentage (.316) and kills per set (12.86).
MPSF HONORS: Freshman outside hitter Camden GIanni earned his first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week honor on Monday, when he was named the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week. Gianni led the Lopes in kill against No. 8 UCLA with 17 and No. 6 Pepperdine with 19. The Carlsbad, California, native joins GCU sophomores Christian Janke and Hugo Fischer as MPSF Offensive Player of the Week recipients this season.

SCOUTING

Concordia Irvine is coming off a big upset of No. 7 UC Irvine on Tuesday. The Eagles defeated the Anteaters 3-1 at home for their second win against a ranked team this season. After winning their home opener against Saint Katherine, the Eagles went 1-2 at the UCSB Asics Invitational with a win over No. 13 CSU Northridge. Concordia picked up another win in its conference opener against USC, sweeping the Trojans on Jan. 16. Senior outside hitter Raymond Barsemian leads the Eagles offensively with 222 kills this season, averaging 3.96 per set to rank 10th nationally.

The Lopes took down Concordia in the last meeting between the two teams, going 3-0 over the Eagles on March 22, 2019.

No. 7 UC Irvine kicked off the season with a win over No. 10 Princeton, taking down the Tigers 3-0 at home. The Anteaters picked up two more ranked wins shortly after that, defeating No. 11 Loyola Chicago and No. 9 Stanford in four sets. UC Irvine went 2-1 at the Outrigger Tournament at Hawaii, taking down Concordia and Queens and falling to No. 1 Hawaii. Junior outside hitter Joel Schneidmiller leads the Anteaters with 183 kills on the season, averaging 3.59 per set to rank 22nd nationally. Senior middle blocker Scott Stadick is the first in the nation in blocks per set at 2.06.

GCU fell to UC Irvine 3-0 at home on Feb. 1, 2019.