Upcoming Event: Beach Volleyball at Arizona on October 18, 2025
Beach VB
at Arizona
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, March 5
Los Angeles, Calif.
1 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Grand Canyon
vs
Stanford
Photo by: Skyler Coblentz
Top competition awaits in LA for 7th-ranked Lopes
3/4/2022 4:27:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
GCU takes on four Top-11 teams in Battle for LA Invitational
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| No. 7 Grand Canyon Lopes (3-0) |
vs. | No. 8 Stanford Cardinal (2-2) |
No. 1 USC Trojans (1-0) |
No. 2 UCLA Bruins (5-0) |
No. 11 Cal Poly Mustangs (1-3) |
| Saturday March 5 1 p.m. MST Live Stats |
Saturday March 5 4 p.m. MST Watch Live Stats |
Sunday March 6 11Â a.m. MST Live Stats |
Sunday March 6 1 p.m. MST Live Stats |
The No. 7 Grand Canyon beach volleyball team heads to Los Angeles California to play in the Battle for LA Invitational co-hosted by USC and UCLA. The Lopes will play at Merle Norman Stadium on Saturday and Mapes Beach on Sunday. GCU takes on four of the best teams in the nation including No. 8 Stanford, No. 1 USC, No. 2 UCLA and No. 11 Cal Poly.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- LOPES MOVE UP IN POLLS - GCU moved up one spot after Week 1 of competition and came in at No. 7Â in this week's AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the CollegeBeachVB Committee Poll.
- HOT STARTÂ - GCU is 3-0 to start the season after taking down Boise State 5-0, No. 12 Arizona 4-1 and Arizona State 4-1.
- TOP COMPETITION TESTS LOPES - The Battle for LA Invitational consists of four of the eight teams that competed in last season's NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships including the defending national champion USC and runner up UCLA.
SCOUTING
No. 8 Stanford- The Cardinal advanced to the national tournament last season for the first time as the No. 6Â seed.
- Stanford kicked off its season a the Heineken Duke Kahanamoku Classic hosted by No. 10 Hawaii and went 2-2, picking up wins over Hawaii and Saint Mary's while falling to No. 2 UCLA and its second game against Hawaii.
- The defending national champions started its season with a 5-0 sweep over No. 15 Long Beach State.
- USC has won four national championships and three Pac-12 championships.
- The Trojans return four All-Americans including Tina Graudina, Megan Kraft, Jula Scoles and Sammy Slater.
- The Bruins are 5-0 to start the 2022 season after sweeping the Heineken Duke Kahanamoku Classic at Hawaii last week.
- UCLA had three Bruins named 2021 AVCA Collegiate Beach All-America including Lexy Denaburg, Savvy Simo and Lea Monkhouse. Denaburg and Monkhouse both returned for the 2022 season.
- Cal Poly is 1-3 to start the 2022 season, earning its lone win against North Florida. The Mustangs fell to No. 3 Florida State 5-0, Tampa 3-2 and No. 6 TCU 3-2.
- Cal Poly's Macy Gordon and Emily Sonny became the first pair in prgram hsitory to be named First Team AVCA Collegiate Beach All-Americans after posting an 18-5 pair record to help lead the Mustangs to a 20-10 record. Both graduated after last season.
LAST TIME OUT
- GCU opened its season going 3-0 in the Canyon Classic for opening weekend at home.
WHAT'S NEXT
- Up next, the Lopes are back at home to host Abilene Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Missouri State.
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