Opening week concludes with 3-1 win

Saturday, January 6

Santa Barbara, Calif.

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

3-0,0-0MPSF

UC Santa Barbara

2-1,0-0Big West

Grand Canyon

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Jeff Liang

1/7/2024 12:22:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

No. 7 Lopes wrap up Asics Invitational at 3-0 after win over host No. 15 UCSB

By: Jerob Moon

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – No. 7 Grand Canyon finished the first week of the 2024 season with 3-0 record after taking down the host of the Asics Invitational, No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, in a 3-1 Saturday night match.

The Lopes had to wait over an hour past the original start time of 8 p.m. (Phoenix time) before facing the Gauchos (2-1) to secure their second ranked win of the week. Led by senior Camden Gianni's match-high 17 kills and four aces, the Lopes backed up their highest preseason ranking in program history with three wins in three days.

Gianni landed on the all-tournament team with GCU setter Nicholas Slight, who was named tournament Most Valuable Player. The junior from Strom Lake, Iowa, paced a GCU offense that hit .322 with 94 assists to go along with 22 digs and four blocks.

For the first time this season, the Lopes trailed after UCSB won a 25-23 opening set. It was the closest set of the match with it including 16 ties and 10 lead changes. Neither team held a lead of more than two points.

Gianni started the match strong with four of GCU's six points, along with a service ace that gave GCU a 15-14 lead. When the set was tied at 21-21, the Gauchos scored four of the final six points to take the 1-0 match lead.

GCU got back on track with a 25-20, second-set win thanks to .522 hitting and just two attacking errors. Senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman hit his stride with four kills and three digs. The Phoenix native finished the match with 10 kills on .429 hitting and now has 30 kills on the season with just seven errors on 52 attempts.

Later in the second set, the Lopes withstood a 6-1 Gauchos run that saw them regain the lead at 12-10. GCU responded with an 11-2 run to gain control at 24-19. The defense was the difference with four Lopes recording a block during the run.

The third and fourth sets were all GCU with 25-18 and 25-20 scorelines to close out the win. Both sets featured strong serving by the Lopes, along with key runs to gain control early. There were only three combined ties and two lead changes in the final two sets after 26 lead changes and 12 ties in the first two sets.

In the third set, the Lopes jumped out to a 7-3 lead and extended it to a 13-6 advantage off a Rico Wardlow service ace. The senior middle blocker had his best offensive showing of the young season, collecting eight kills on .727 hitting with a pair of blocks. Wardlow set a GCU single-season record with a .534 hitting percentage last season.

In the final set, the Lopes jumped out to a 7-3 lead that was extended to 19-12 with two straight aces from Gianni. GCU hit .435 in the final set, dueling with the Gauchos who had hit a match-high .545 with just one error. The difference was the serving game with GCU finishing with three aces while UCSB had seven errors.

The Lopes will return to Phoenix for a pair of matches against Lindenwood on Thursday and next Saturday to open a 10-game home slate at Global Credit Union Arena.