No. 9 Lopes travel to USC


Grand Canyon Lopes (4-10, 4-10 MPSF)	vs	USC Trojans (5-10, 5-10 MPSF)
		April 9-10 5 p.m. Galen Center Los Angeles, Calif.
Match Notes		Live Stats Live Video

The No. 9 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team travels to USC for its final road trip of the regular season. The Lopes take on the Trojans at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, both matches streamed here.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

RANKED: The Lopes have been ranked for 11 straight weeks in the top 10 of the National Volleyball Association/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Poll, checking in at No. 9 for the third week in a row. GCU earned its highest ranking in program history at No. 6 on March 1 after defeating No. 1 BYU in three sets.
PUTTING UP STATS: GCU is ranked in the top 15 nationally in five categories: eighth in aces per set (1.54), 11th in blocks per set (2.271) and hitting percentage (.292), 12th in kills per set (12.60) and 14th in assists per set (27.42).
MPSF HONORS: Sophomore outside hitter Christian Janke earned the Lopes' first weekly honor from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation on March 1. Janke was named Defensive Player of the Week after leading GCU in digs against No. 1 BYU.

SCOUTING

USC sits at fourth in the MPSF with a 5-10 record this season. The Trojans took doown UCLA on the road in the first match of the 2021 season, taking down the Bruins 3-1. After a seven-match losing streak, USC got its second win of the season against Concordia at home on March 13. The Trojan's three other wins this season came against Stanford on March 26, 27 and 28. In the last weekend of competition USC fell to BYU twice on the road, pushing the Cougars to four sets on April 2.

The Trojans are led by junior outside hitter Billy Fauntleroy, who leads the team in kills (205) and aces (12) this season.

USC went 5-14 last season, finishing 1-6 in the MPSF with one win over Stanford..

LAST TIME OUT

GCU fell at No. 6 UCLA in four sets at home.
Junior opposite Hugo Fischer led the Lopes with 16 kills in the match.

WHAT'S NEXT

GCU returns home for their final weekend of the regular season, taking on Concordia on April 16 and 17.

For more GCU men's volleyball news, notes and numbers, click here to view the match notes.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

LAST TIME OUT

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hugo Fischer

Christian Janke

Grand Canyon University Athletics