WAC pod brings Sam Houston, SFA to Phoenix


Grand Canyon Lopes (12-4, 4-3 WAC)	vs.	Sam Houston Bearkats (11-6, 4-1 WAC)
		Thursday, Oct. 21 6 p.m.
GCU game notes SHSU Notes		Live stats Live video

Grand Canyon hosts Sam Houston for the first time ever on Thursday night in GCU Arena. The new WAC opponent and the Lopes have only met once in school history in a 2018 neutral-site matchup. The Lopes and Bearkats are at the top of their WAC divisions, with Sam Houston in a three-way tie for first in the Southwest Division and GCU tied for third in the West Division and trailing the co-leaders by one game.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

RPI: The Lopes have the WAC second-best ranking in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, coming in at 96th while Stephen F. Austin is 69th. Sam Houston is close behind the Lopes at 102nd while Utah Valley and New Mexico State are at 112th and 113rd, respectively.
NATIONALLY RANKED: Tegan DeFalco is 24th in the nation and second in the WAC in digs per set at 4.98 and 60th in the nation and fifth in the conference for service aces at 0.42 per set. GCU is the WAC leader for service aces per set at 1.75, which ranks 41st nationally.
WAC POD: The Lopes will play the Bearkats once this season before going to the WAC Tournament. GCU is one of three schools hosting WAC pods to allow teams from the West and Southwest divisions to play each other before potentially meeting in the WAC Tournament.

SCOUTING

Sam Houston comes into the Thursday night match with an 11-6 overall and 4-1 WAC record. The Bearkats are in a three-way tie for first place in the Southwest division with Stephen F. Austin and UT Rio Grande Valley.

The Bearkats were picked to finish second in the Southwest Division behind Stephen F. Austin and had two players named to the Preseason All-WAC team — senior outside hitter Ashley Lewis and sophomore setter Morgan Janda. Lewis was named the Southland Player of the Year last season while Janda earned a spot on all-conference second team.

Lewis has started all 17 matches this season and ranks fifth in the WAC with 3.55 kills per set and 245 kills on the outside. Lewis is also tied for second in service aces with 17 and 0.25 per set. Janda also has started all 17 matches, averaging a team-best 9.54 assists per set to rank fourth in the WAC. Janda is tied for second in service aces with 17 and 0.25 per set. Freshman libero Hannah Baker leads the WAC with 5.10 digs per set and 352 total digs. The freshman also has a team-best 21 service aces and is averaging 0.30 per set. Fellow freshman McKenzie Morvant leads the Bearkats in with 69 total blocks and 11 block solos. She is averaging 1.05 blocks per set.

Sam Houston suffered its first loss in the WAC on Saturday when it fell to UTRGV in Edinburg, Texas, after five sets. The Bearkats trailed by a set twice and evened up the match each time, doing so in extra points to force a fifth set. Sam Houston dropped the fifth set and took its first loss. The Bearkats and Vaqueros each had 56 kills. but Sam Houston totaled more digs, assists and aces. Libero Hannah Baker had a match-high 30 digs.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes host Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the GCU Arena with pumpkin patch and camper reunion promotions.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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