Lopes outlast No. 7 Waves in 5-set road win

Wednesday, February 22

Malibu, Calif.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-0, 3-0

Pepperdine

9-6, 1-2

Grand Canyon

Pepperdine

Photo by: Taylor Hansen

2/22/2023 10:19:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Gianni, Janke lead 5th-ranked GCU to program-best 14-0 season start

By: Jerob Moon

MALIBU, Calif. – The No. 5 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team stayed undefeated with a 3-2 win at No. 7 Pepperdine on Wednesday night.

GCU (14-0, 3-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) held all the momentum by winning the first two sets, but the Waves (9-6, 1-2 MPSF) had other plans winning the next two sets to force a fifth set. The Lopes regrouped in the final frame that featured 11 ties and two lead changes and closed out the 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 20-25,16-14 match to stay atop the conference standings and continue the program's best-ever start.

Both offenses were nearly unstoppable as the Lopes hit .418 with just 12 attacking errors on 110 attempts while the Waves hit .398 and collected 64 kills. It was a balanced attack for GCU as four players recorded double-digit kills and junior Camden Gianni returned to form with 12 kills and six service aces.

Lopes senior outside hitter Christian Janke led the team with 13 kills while junior middle blocker Rico Wardlow added 12 kills and junior outside hitter Jackson Hickman had 10 for his 11th double-digit kill performance of the season.

It was all GCU through the first two sets with 25-18 and 25-21 wins. In the first frame, the Lopes hit .455 and had just one attacking error while the defense limited Pepperdine to just .174 hitting in the second-set win. Gianni led the offense in his third start of the season, tallying eight kills and four aces in the first two sets.

With their backs against the wall, the Waves responded and took the third and fourth sets. Pepperdine committed just five attacking errors, combining to hit .482 in both sets. In the fourth set, he Lopes held a 16-13 lead before Pepperdine's 7-1 run flipped momentum and put the Waves up 20-17, so they could eventually a 25-23 set.

A big part of the Pepperdine comeback was outside hitter Jaylen Jasper, who recorded 23 of his 30 kills in the final three sets on .733 hitting.

In the fifth set, the Lopes took the first point on a block by freshman middle blocker Cameron Thorne and Janke. GCU nearly went up 4-1, but a controversial call made it a one-point GCU lead at 3-2 and neither team went up by more than a single point again until the end of the set.

Tied at 12-12, Gianni delivered his sixth ace of the match and Hickman followed up with a kill to give the Lopes two match points at 14-12. Pepperdine responded with two straight points to tie the match, but Hickman gave GCU the lead back with a kill. In the final rally, Pepperdine middle blocker Akin Akinwumi was called for an attacking error to clinch the match for GCU.

The Lopes are 3-0 in five-set matches this season, defeating No. 14 Ohio State in a neutral-site match on Jan. 14 and No. 7 UC Irvine at home on Feb. 4.

GCU will attempt to sweep their four-game Southern California swing on Friday when they meet the Waves again at 1 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.