Depth leads Lopes to reverse sweep

Sunday, March 10

Manoa, Hawaii

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

16-2,6-0MPSF

Lewis

11-10,4-4MIVA

Grand Canyon

Lewis

Photo by: Hawaii Athletics

3/10/2024 9:22:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Balanced offensive attack leads GCU to 5-set victory

By: Jerob Moon

HONOLULU – Top-ranked Grand Canyon wrapped up their stay in Hawaii with a 3-2 comeback win over No. 14 Lewis in the final match of the Outrigger Invitational.

In their third ranked match in four days the Lopes (16-2) dropped the first two sets to Lewis (11-10) but leaned on their depth to complete the reverse sweep. Four Lopes recorded double-digit kills in the win led by graduate opposite Jarrett Anderson's 14 kills and 18 points off the bench.

Lewis jumped out to an early advantage taking the first two sets 25-23 and 25-18 to put the Lopes down 2-0 for the first time this season. GCU struggled to find a rhythm to start the match hitting just .278 to Lewis' .369 mark. In the middle of the second set GCU head coach Matt Werle turned to his bench subbing in sophomore's Jaxon Herr, Chase Gianni and Jordan Lucas along with Anderson.

Anderson, a D-III transfer from Springfield College, collected four kills in the second set and remained in the lineup heading to the third. In the do-or-die set Anderson and the Lopes responded with a 25-17 win where they hit .565 with just one attacking error. As a team GCU had 12 attacking errors in the first two sets before finishing with just four errors in the next three sets on a .532 hitting clip.

GCU junior setter Nicholas Slight leaned on multiple GCU attackers in the comeback finishing with 49 assists while four different Lopes reached double-digit kill totals. Along with Anderson's team-high 14, senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman and sophomore middle blocker Cameron Thorne each added 13. Middle blocker Rico Wardlow added 10 kills on a .643 hitting mark.

Down 2-1 the Lopes tied up the set with a dominant 25-14 win in the fourth set. GCU hit a match high .591 mark while limiting the Flyers to just .152 hitting. Leading 7-4 the Lopes used a 6-1 run to jump out to a 13-5 lead thanks to four different Lopes recording a kill. The GCU defense also came to play collecting six blocks, 10 digs and finishing with a perfect reception percentage on 12 Flyer serves.

Tied at 2-2 the Lopes wrapped up the match with a 15-11 fifth set win. After going to a fifth set and falling to No. 5 UC Irvine earlier in the roadtrip the Lopes rebounded thanks to a third straight set hitting over .400. Anderson wrapped up his best match in a GCU uniform with three more kills and a service ace.

Tied at 3-3 in the set GCU went on a 4-0 run capped off with a kill by Lucas to lead 7-3. GCU would lead the rest of the set and a pair of Flyer errors capped off the win.

The Lopes will be back in Phoenix on March 15 and 16 for two matches against NJIT.