Season sets off with 3-1 home win

Friday, January 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

1-0,0-0MPSF

Lindenwood

0-1,0-0MIVA

Lindenwood

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Skyler Coblentz

1/6/2023 9:02:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Stout defense, stellar hitting propels Lopes to season-opening win

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team kicked off the season with a 3-1 win over Lindenwood at GCU Arena on Friday night.

The No. 11 Lopes (1-0) took the first two sets and had to withstand a 37-35 third-set loss before closing out the match by dominatng the fourth set 25-13.

GCU hit .340 as a team and capitalized on 30 service errors by Lindenwood (0-1) while forcing the Lions to hit just .250 with stout net defense that resulted in 11 blocks.

Lopes senior outside hitter Christian Janke led the way offensively with 14 kills while junior outside hitter Jackson Hickman collected 11 digs to go with 12 kills. Junior middle blocker Rico Wardlow impressed in his Lopes debut, collecting 11 kills with no errors on .733 hitting while adding a dig, a service ace and four blocks.

The first set was close with 10 ties and three lead changes before GCU pulled away at the end to win 25-21. The Lopes used a balance offense attack with five players recording a kill while also being effective at the service line with one error in 25 attempts. Leading 21-20, the Lopes took advantage of two Lindenwood service errors before Janke and sophomore setter Nicholas Slight closed out the set with a kill and a solo block, respectively, in the final two rallies.

GCU's defense came to play in the second set, limiting Lindenwood to .188 hitting in a 25-15 win. Combined with the defense was a stellar GCU attack that only committed two errors with 13 kills and a .524 hitting clip. Hickman was effective on the attack with three kills and no errors while collecting six digs on defense. A Lindenwood service error gave the Lopes the lead at 2-1 and they never gave it back, extending the lead to 19-9 with an 8-2 run. Slight set up Hickman for the final kill and his 10th assist of the set on the final play.

The marathon third set was a different story with 16 ties and four lead changes before the Lions won 37-35. Lindenwood jumped out to a 6-1 lead and the Lopes caught up with a 6-0 run to lead 13-11. The largest advantage for either team was three points and there were 13 combined set points before Lindenwood's Kadin Warner converted the winning kill.

The Lopes regrouped and saved their best set for last in the fourth, closing out their first win with a 25-13 score. Wardlow was 5 for 5 in attack chances while collecting two blocks. As in the second set, GCU took a 2-1 lead and never let it go, using a 6-0 run to jump ahead 15-6. Slight had two straight service aces in the run.

Up 24-13, junior middle blocker Jacob Guerber closed out the match with his fifth block to give the Lopes the match victory.

Both teams will meet again Sunday at GCU Arena with the first serve at noon.