No. 9 Lopes host No. 1 BYU in home opener

Thursday, February 25

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

BYU

2/24/2021 12:27:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Match Notes

GCU plays 2 more matches vs. top-ranked Cougars

By: Cassidy Mace


Grand Canyon Lopes (1-3, 1-3 MPSF)	vs	BYU Cougars (5-1, 5-1 MPSF)
		Thursday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 27 6 p.m. and noon (Phoenix time) GCU Arena Phoenix, Ariz.
Match Notes		Live Stats Live Video

The No. 9 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team hosts No. 1 BYU in its first home matchup of the 2021 season. The Lopes host the Cougars on Thursday night and Saturday at GCU Arena, the third and fourth straight matches between the two teams.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

RANKED: The Lopes moved up one spot in this week's National Volleyball Association/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Poll to No. 9. GCU went four straight weeks at No. 10 after earning its highest preseason ranking in program history, checking in at No. 10 in the preseason poll.
PUTTING UP STATS: GCU is ranked in the top 10 nationally in five categories: third in assists per set (12.3), fourth in kills per set (13.1), seventh in blocks per set (2.5) and eighth in hitting percentage (.309) and attacks per set (28.5).
MPSF HONORS: The Lopes return all four Mountain Pacific Sports Federation postseason award winners from their 2020 squad. Outside hitter Camden Gianni earned GCU's first major MPSF award when he was named the MPSF Freshman of the Year, as well as being selected to the All-MPSF second team and MPSF All-Freshmen team. Sophomore outside hitter Christian Janke joined him on the second team while senior Ian McLain, a middle blocker, and sophomore Hugo Fischer, an opposite, were named honorable mentions.

SCOUTING

BYU holds the top spot in the NVA/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches poll for the fifth straight week. The Cougars are 5-1 this season with a five-match winning streak. BYU went 1-1 vs. UCLA in the first week of competition before taking down Pepperdine in back-to-back matches on Feb. 12-13. GCU traveled to Provo, Utah, last weekend, falling in four sets on Thursday before becoming the first team this season to push BYU to five sets on Saturday. The Lopes fell 3-2 in the match despite Gianni recording

Last year, BYU finished 17-1 with its only loss coming in its last match against No. 1 Hawaii.