Red-hot offense keeps GCU undefeated

Friday, February 2

Cambridge, Mass.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

8-0,0-0MPSF

Harvard

1-3,0-0EIVA

Grand Canyon

Harvard

Photo by: Wesley Kurz

2/2/2024 7:19:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes hit season-high .508 in 3-0 sweep over Harvard

By: Jerob Moon

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 2 Grand Canyon kicked off the two-day Harvard Invitational with a 3-0 sweep over the host Crimson on Friday night in Malkin Athletic Center.

The Lopes (8-0) were firing on all cylinders with a season-high .508 hitting percentage while adding six aces. Senior opposite Camden Gianni finished with a team-high 13 kills and capped off the night with three straight aces to close out the third set.

GCU had just seven attacking errors on 61 swings while also controlling the service game. It was a balanced offensive attack that saw five players record at least five kills, led by Gianni and junior outside hitter Karter Roger's career-high 10 kills.

The Lopes started the match on the right foot with a 25-14 win. It was the middle blockers that ignited the first-set offense with senior Rico Wardlow and sophomore Cameron Thorne combining for six kills on .857 hitting while adding a service ace and a block. Both GCU middles entered the weekend in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's top 10 for hitting percentage.

GCU led wire to wire in a 25-16 second-set win. The Lopes continued to control the momentum, finishing with a 1.000 reception percentage in the set while the Crimson (1-3) had six service errors and no aces. GCU senior opposite Jackson Hickman picked up four of his five kills in the set with no errors while Rogers added five more to his tally. Hickman and Thorne combined for a trio of triple blocks as the defense held Harvard to a .125 hitting mark.

Leading 5-4, the Lopes opened up their second-set lead with an 8-1 run. Harvard only managed to cut the deficit to five points on two separate occasions as GCU held the lead the rest of the way.

Harvard had its best stretch of volleyball to start the third set and led 8-3, but GCU went on to win 22 of the next 33 points to close out the match with a 25-14 win. After focusing on the middle attack to start the match, GCU junior setter Nicholas Slight focused on the pins, setting up Gianni, Hickman and Rogers for 13 of the team's 14 kills in the set. Slight finished with 32 assists, his sixth consecutive game with at least 30 assists.

Trailing 9-6, the Lopes went on a 6-1 run to regain the third-set lead at 11-10 on a kill from Gianni. That lead expanded with another 9-1 run for the Lopes to push the lead to 21-13. Gianni put the finishing touches on the win with three consecutive aces to end the match at 25-14. The Carlsbad, California, native became GCU's all-time service ace leader last season and entered the match fourth in the country with 0.75 aces per set.

The Lopes will wrap up their six-day East Coast trip with a neutral-site match against Daemen from Malkin Athletic Center. First serve is set for 3 p.m. (Phoenix time).