The No. 9 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team will take a break from Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play and will begin a four-match nonconference homestand with a pair of weekend matches against Harvard on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's match will be held in GCU Arena and Sunday's match may be moved to Antelope Gymnasium if there is a Selection Sunday watch party for GCU women's basketball.
Both matches will stream live on ESPN+.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- FINAL NONCONFERENCE TESTS: Along with hosting Harvard this weekend, the Lopes will also face Tusculum next week in the final nonconference matches before the home stretch of MPSF play. The Lopes will use these games to prepare for the final six MPSF matches as they make a run at a top-four seed for the conference tournament.
- NEARING 100 WINS: This weekend could be a historic one for Matt Werle. The seventh-year GCU head coach is one win away from reaching 100 career wins. Werle already has the most wins in GCU men's volleyball history.
- TOP 10 TEAMMATES: Outside hitters Christian Janke and Camden Gianni have been getting the job done on offense for the Lopes all season. The GCU duo is the only duo that is ranked inside the top 10 nationally for kills per set. Janke (4.02) ranks seventh while Gianni (3.91) is eighth.
SCOUTING
Harvard will travel out of the Eastern time zone for the first time since the opening weekend of the season to face GCU in just the second-ever matchup between the two schools. The Crimson bring a four-match winning streak into this weekend's contest with all of those wins coming in conference play.
Senior outside hitter Campbell Schoenfield leads the way offensively with 119 kills and 3.05 kills per set while middle blockers Ethan Smith and Ethan McCrary lock down the middle with 36 and 33 blocks, respectively.
WHAT'S NEXT
- The Lopes will face Tusculum for two matches at home on March 18-19.
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For more GCU men's volleyball news, notes and numbers, click here to view the match notes.
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