GCU faces Erskine, UC San Diego at home


No. 9 Grand Canyon Lopes (4-0)	vs.	Erskine Fleet (2-2)	UC San Diego Tritons (3-5)
		Friday Jan. 27 6 p.m.	Sunday, Jan. 29 2 p.m.
Match notes		Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats

The ninth-ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team is back in action at home after a bye week and ready to take on Erskine and UC San Diego in GCU Arena.

The Lopes are coming off the first road trip of the season to Virgina, where they defeated host George Mason and No. 14 Ohio State in the Patriot Invitational.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

HOT START: The Lopes are off to a hot start with a 4-0 record, their best start since 2018. GCU has hit over .300 in every match this season with 18 service aces in 15 sets. GCU has also been stout defensively with 37 blocks and 108 digs.
HICKMAN STAY CONSISTENT: Junior outside hitter Jackson Hickman has been the star on offense for the Lopes so far this season. Hickman has recorded double-digit kills each match and leads the team with 48 kills and 56 points. In the win over the Buckeyes, Hickman had a career-high 14 kills on .313 hitting.
BUSY WEEK: The matches against the Fleet and Tritons begin a busy homestand for GCU as they will host six matches in an eight-day stretch. After this weekend, the Lopes will face Lees-McRae on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 before hosting UC Irvine on Feb. 3 and 4.

SCOUTING

Erskine started .500 this season with wins over Tusculum and Fort Valley State. This will be the farthest road trip of the season for Erskine, which also will face UC San Diego on Saturday. The Fleet hits .202 while averaging 10.4 kills per set. Outside hitter Edgerrin Austin leads the team with 54 kills and 3.38 kills per set while middle blocker Jon Fuller had a team-high 17 blocks.

UC San Diego has been busy this season with eight matches, five of those coming against ranked opponents. The Tritons came close to defeating No. 10 USC on Jan. 7 but fell in five sets. Senior outside hitter Ryan Ka has been the offensive leader this season with 103 kills and 3.35 kills per set. The second closest Triton is freshman Josh Schellinger with 56. Defensively, junior Nick Rigo leads the team with 20 blocks.

WHAT'S NEXT?

GCU will move to Antelope Gymnasium on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for matches against Lees-McRae.

For more GCU men's volleyball news, notes and numbers, click here to view the match notes.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jackson Hickman

Grand Canyon University Athletics