Larson joins staff; Liu promoted to associate head coach

Grand Canyon women's volleyball promoted Jeff Liu to associate head coach after three years as an assistant coach in the program, while welcoming a new coaching staff addition in Evan Larson.

GCU congratulates Liu on new role

Liu, the technical coordinator for the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team since 2017, joined the GCU women's volleyball coaching staff in February 2020, while aiding Team USA to their historic gold-medal win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"I am excited to announce Jeff's promotion to associate head coach," Lopes head coach Tim Nollan said. "He has been invaluable on our staff from tactics to recruitment and this title is well deserved. I know Jeff will continue to push the limits and help propel GCU Volleyball into our next chapter."

During his first season with the Lopes, GCU landed a school record of six Lopes earning All-WAC honors, including their first WAC Setter of the Year, Klaire Mitchell, and WAC Libero of the Year, K.J. Adams. In the shortened 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, the Lopes posted an 11-4 record and were 8-0 at home for the first time since1993.

In 2021, GCU went 19-7, and swept the three major WAC awards for the season, including Freshman of the Year McKenzie Wise, Mitchell repeating as WAC Setter of the Year and Libero of the Year Teagan DeFalco.

Last season, the Lopes posted an 18-11 record, setting an all-time program record with seven consecutive sweeps, to match the third-longest active streak in the nation. They advanced to the WAC semifinals and made their first Division I postseason debut in the NIVC Tournament, beating Wichita State 3-1 in the first round for the program's highest-RPI opponent victory. Mitchell was once again named to the All-WAC first team, alongside outside hitters Melanie Brecka, a graduate, and Tatum Parrott, a freshman.

GCU has also recorded the highest Division I winning percentage in Arizona over the past four seasons, winning 72.1% of its match compared to others being at 49.4 and below.

Women's volleyball welcomes Larson

Larson joins the GCU women's volleyball staff after three seasons as the graduate manager/director of operations for Santa Clara volleyball and following four years on the Drury women's volleyball team.

"I am very excited to add Evan to our staff," Nollan said. "Her experience as a player and as a member of the Santa Clara staff makes her a perfect fit to help us continue to develop our student-athletes and provide them with an incredible collegiate volleyball experience. I can't wait for her to get to campus and hit the ground running."

Larson graduated from Drury in May 2020 as a double major in psychology and sociology. Her coaching experience includes time with the Net Results Volleyball Club (now 417 Juniors), where she was an assistant coach for the 17-1 and 16-1 national teams, as well as head coach of the 14-1 and 13-1 national teams. She also worked as a sports performance specialist with RedLine Athletics.

During Larson's time at Santa Clara, the Broncos produced two American Volleyball Coaches Association all-region selections, six all-West Coast Conference accolades and 10 WCC all-academic nods.

Although the fall 2020 campaign was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Broncos battled through the challenges and rose to the occasion in the spring of 2021, asserting themselves as one of the toughest serving teams in the country with a WAC-best 114 aces (33rd in the nation) and 1.75 aces/set (24th in the nation). Julia Sangiacomo was also named to the AVCA Pacific North All-Region Team, giving the Santa Clara all-region selections in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2007-08.

Larson, a former middle blocker, earned a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference All-Academic Team in each of her four years and played a pivotal role in Drury's historic 2018 season. She started all 35 matches and played in all 131 sets for the 28-7 Panthers, who posted their most wins in a season since moving to Division II in 1994 and reached the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time. Larson totaled 223 kills and was second on the team with 132 blocks, including 11 block assists in a 3-1 victory over No. 8 Rockhurst on Sept. 8. It marked the second-most block assists in a single match in program history. Drury entered the postseason as the top-ranked team in the Midwest Region and finished at No. 17 in the nation.
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