Defense carries Lopes to road win

Saturday, March 26

Irvine, Calif.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-9,4-4MPSF

Concordia

10-10,3-5MPSF

Grand Canyon

CUI

Photo by: Skyler Coblentz

3/26/2022 10:36:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

4 Lopes record double-digit kills in 3-1 win at Concordia Irvine

By: Jerob Moon

IRVINE, Calif. – The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team wrapped up its final regular-season road match with a 3-1 win at Concordia on Saturday night.

The defense for GCU (14-9, 4-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) came to play as it recorded 12.5 blocks and limited Concordia (10-10, 3-5 MPSF) to .260 hitting a day after it had hit .383 in an Eagles win.

Redshirt junior outside hitter Christian Janke, redshirt junior opposite Hugo Fischer and junior middle blockers Kyle Thompson and Colin Lovejoy all recorded double-digit kills while redshirt sophomore outside hitter Camden Gianni tied a season high with five blocks.

Concordia held the early momentum with a 25-18 win in the first set. GCU trailed 14-10 before Concordia went on a 6-1 run to put the lead out of reach. The Lopes hit just .226 and were unable to stop an Eagles offense that hit .458 in the set.

GCU rebounded with a 25-20 win in the second set to even the match. Neither team led by more than two points until the Lopes held an 18-15 lead off a Fischer kill. GCU closed out the set on a 5-1 run that included a kill from Janke and a set-point ace from Gianni.

The Lopes took a 2-1 lead with a 25-23 win in the third set. GCU limited Concordia to .167 hitting while recording 3.5 blocks in a back-and-forth set. The Eagles took a 17-14 lead before the Lopes went on a 4-0 run to regain the lead, capped by a Gianni ace to put GCU ahead 18-17.

GCU went on another set-clinching run, scoring six of the final eight points after trailing 21-19. A kill and an ace by Janke and back-to-back Lopes blocks ended the set.

GCU finished the match with a 25-21 win in the fourth set. The Lopes led wire to wire and jumped to a 9-2 lead, thanks to five attacking errors by Concordia. GCU hit .409 with only three attacking errors while recording five blocks.

The Lopes will be back home for the final four regular-season matches, starting with matches against Stanford at 6 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Saturday in GCU Arena.