Upcoming beach schedule brews excitement

Grand Canyon beach volleyball has become a nationally competitive program consistently, finishing in the the top 10 for three consecutive seasons and qualifying for its first NCAA tournament in May. However, this season looks different with a new conference and a challenging schedule to continue an upward trajectory.

After competing independently for the program's first decade, the Lopes committed to the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) in October, joining one of the strongest conferences in the nation. That membership adds a postseason tournament to an already ambitious schedule that features GCU matches against seven of its fellow top-10 programs in last season's final poll.

"This is a really exciting year for us," Lopes head coach Kristen Rohr said. "We get the opportunity to play against some of the nation's top teams, while also competing for a conference championship for the first time ever."

GCU's loaded schedule opens with nine road duals, starting Feb. 23 at CSU Northridge, before staging its home opener at GCU Beach Volleyball Stadium on March 15 against Southern Mississippi.

After the opener at CSUN, the Lopes' next eight matches will be all on the road and played against teams that finished in last season's top 15.GCU will face ranked opponents in 16 of its schedule's 26 matches, including all of the top four.

Ahead of conference championships in late April, the Lopes will only face two CCSA opponents — Florida State, last season's final No. 2 team, at the Tampa Invitational on March 3 and TCU, last season's No. 6 team, in a March 24 match in Fort Worth, Texas, and an April 21 match at a Stanford event.

GCU will face defending NCAA champion USC in the second match of the season on Feb. 24 in Los Angeles, when it will also face Long Beach State.

The Lopes will host March and April competitions that will feature visits from top-20 Pepperdine and Hawaii programs, as well as Arizona State, Southern Miss, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, UC Davis and New Orleans. They will wrap up the regular season on April 21-22 at a competitive Stanford tournament against Santa Clara, Stanford, TCU and California.

"We are on the road a lot this year but always love to compete in front of our home crowd," Rohr said. "We are excited to host some solid California schools and ASU later in the season."

The CCSA features Florida State, LSU, Missouri State, South Carolina and TCU, whom GCU is no stranger to after competing against the Horned Frogs at the AVCA Collegiate Fall Beach Championship in November, when LSU, TCU and GCU ran the podium.

The six CCSA members collectively have 16 appearances in the six NCAA Championships since the 2016 launch. Florida State, last season's national runner-up, has claimed all six CCSA Championships, receiving automatic bids to the NCAA tournament each year, while LSU has appeared in the NCAA tournament five times and South Carolina has made it on three occasions, TCU has appeared twice and GCU debuted last season as an at-large selection and finished with a 26-7 record.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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