GCU drops 5-set match to No. 8 UCSB

Saturday, February 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

6-5,0-0MPSF

UC Santa Barbara

7-4,0-0Big West

UC Santa Barbara

Grand Canyon

2/12/2022 10:55:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes lose 3-2 for the 3rd consecutive time to top-10 opponent

By: Jerob Moon

The ninth-ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team dropped a second straight 3-2 match to eighth-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night at GCU Arena.

The Lopes (6-5) hit just .179 in a match that was very similar to Friday night's five-set loss to the Gauchos (7-4). GCU took the first set and dropped the next two before forcing a fifth set, where they fell just short.

In the first set, the Lopes came out strong and hit a match-high .324 in a 25-21 set win. Outside hitter Christian Janke led the team with five kills on a .500 mark with only one error.

It was a back-and-forth set with the Lopes leading by no more than two points until a Janke kill and a UCSB attacking error pushed the lead to 16-12. The Lopes maintained that lead through the rest of the set with Janke finishing off the set with back-to-back kills.

UC Santa Barbara rebounded and took the next two sets, 25-12 and 25-23. The Gauchos limited GCU to -.097 hitting in the second set and .250 in the third. Outside hitter Ryan Wilcox tallied 11 kills to lead UCSB to a 2-1 match lead.

For the second straight day, the Lopes rebounded with a convincing fourth set win, evening the match with a 25-20 set win. GCU stepped up, tallying five blocks, including blocks in three straight points to extend the Lopes lead to 9-5. Janke led the way with four kills while outside hitter Camden Gianni added three aces.

In the fifth set, UCSB edged GCU 15-12. The Gauchos scored the first point and led wire to wire, going on a 4-0 run to push the lead 12-6.

The Lopes didn't back down and made a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to 14-12. UCSB scored the next point to close out the match.

GCU will welcome No. 5 Pepperdine for the start of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play next week on Feb. 18 and 20.