Gianni leads Lopes to 4-set win

Sunday, February 20

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

7-6,1-1MPSF

Pepperdine

6-4,1-1MPSF

Pepperdine

Grand Canyon

2/20/2022 6:02:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

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GCU earns spilt in opening 2 MPSF matches

By: Jerob Moon

The No. 10 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team snapped a four-match skid and took down No. 8 Pepperdine in four sets on Sunday afternoon at GCU Arena.

Redshirt sophomore Camden Gianni was the man of the match tallying 18 kills with just one error on .708 hitting, while adding seven digs and four blocks in the Lopes' first MPSF win of the season. The .708 hitting mark was a new career-high with at least five attempts.

"I'm very proud of that win," head coach Matt Werle said. "Our scouting report really didn't change much going into today's match but the guys seemed way more bought into it. And obviously Camden was unstoppable so that helps."

For the fourth-straight match the Lopes took the first set, winning today 25-21. Gianni came out hot recording six kills on seven attacks while GCU (7-6, 1-1 MPSF) as a team limited Pepperdine (6-4, 1-1 MPSF) to just .156 hitting in the set.

GCU jumped out to an early 4-1 but was pulled back to an even score at 9-9 by the Wave. The Lope would respond with four straight points to push the lead to 13-9 and didn't give up the lead the rest of the set as it was closed out by back-to-back kills from Christian Janke and Gianni.

"Camden is really starting to play the whole game," Werle said. "In year's past he's been a huge threat on the service line and offensively, and tonight he blocked balls and was good in service receive. Teams still go at him and that's fine with us if they want to use him as a serving target because we know Camden's a good passer.

"I'm proud of where he's at, I think his summer with USA Volleyball has made him mentally tough and he's just a very well-rounded player at this point in his career.

The Lopes improved on their hitting percentage in the second set and took a 2-0 lead with 26-24 set win in extra points. While not as dramatic as Friday's 42-40 extra point first set, GCU and Pepperdine went back and forth accounting for 14 ties and two lead changes.

Late in the set the Lopes went on a 3-0 run to jump ahead 23-20 but had to withstand three straight points from the Wave right after to knot it up at 24-24. Gianni collected a kill to give GCU set point, and middle blocker Kyle Thompson finished it off with a kill after a perfectly placed ball by setter Nicholas Slight in the middle of the court caught Pepperdine off guard.

The Wave would respond with a 25-19 third set win to avoid the sweep. GCU faltered on their attacks hitting -.042 in the set while the Wave capitalized and hit .409 as a team.

The Lopes would regroup and put together their best set of the weekend to close out the match with a dominating 25-13 fourth set. GCU hit a match-high .500 in the set as Gianni and Janke combined for 10 of the team's 12 kills on .833 hitting. The Lopes jumped out to an early 7-1 lead and controlled the tempo limiting the Wave to just five kills on 22 attempts.

"Christian is our glue, he's our team leader, our vocal leader," Werle added. "He knows the game inside and out and he probably has the best volleyball IQ on our roster. So he's the one relaying things and giving guys confidence and relying back on that scouting report."

Janke finished his stellar weekend with 13 kills on Sunday to go along with a career-high 23 on Friday.

The Lopes will continue MPSF play on the road next week with two matches at BYU on Feb. 25 and 26.