Nonconference play ends with Tusculum pair

Friday, March 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Tusculum

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3/17/2022 7:16:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

No. 9 GCU hosts Pioneers in first-ever matchups

By: Jerob Moon


No. 9 Grand Canyon Lopes (11-8)	vs	Tusculum Pioneers (5-12)
		Friday-Saturday, March 18-19 6 p.m./4 p.m. GCU Arena
Match Notes		Live Stats Live Video

The No. 9 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team will wrap up nonconference play with two matches against NAIA opponent Tusculum. It will be the first meeting between the two schools when they face off this weekend at GCU Arena.

Both matches will stream live on ESPN+.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

FINAL STRETCH: After taking on the Pioneers, the Lopes will have six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches to improve their positioning before the start of the conference tournament. The Lopes will travel to Concordia and then face Stanford and USC at home to wrap up the regular season. The Lopes are fourth in the MPSF with a 3-3 record.
NEARING 100 WINS: Over the weekend, head coach Matt Werle made more GCU men's volleyball history when he became the first coach to reach 100 career wins. Werle, in his seventh season, is already the winningest coach in program 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 pair of teammates that is ranked inside the top 10 nationally for kills per set. Janke (4.04) ranks seventh while Gianni (3.91) is ninth.

SCOUTING

Tusculum will face its first Division I opponent since playing Ball State on Jan. 15. The Pioneers have just one win in their last six matches. In 17 matches this season, they are hitting .159 as a team while recording 7.34 digs per set. In its last match, the Pioneers lost to Indiana Tech and had libero Taylor West move to outside hitter, where he recorded six kills.