Lopes stay perfect at home with 3-1 win

Friday, March 15

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-2,6-0MPSF

NJIT

8-10,0-4EIVA

NJIT

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jack Gilday

3/15/2024 9:47:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU rebounds from dropping the 1st set to improve to 7-0 at home

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team remained perfect at home with a 3-1 win over NJIT at Global Credit Union Arena on Friday night.

The No. 4 Lopes (17-2) overcame a sluggish first set thanks to key players off the bench and went on to hit .431 as a team in the final three sets.

Senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman led a balanced offensive attack with 13 kills on .458 hitting while sophomore outside hitter Jordan Lucas came off the bench and collected three kills and four digs in the final three sets. Freshman libero Matthew Thornton also impressed in his first collegiate start finishing with 10 digs and a .947 reception percentage.

NJIT (8-10) came out strong in the first set winning 25-17 thanks to a .556 hitting percentage and six total blocks. The Lopes were unable to find a rhythm hitting -.100 thanks to six kills to eight errors on 20 attacks. The Highlanders gave the Lopes nine service errors, but GCU was unable to turn those miscues into runs.

That all changed in the second set when the Lopes answered with a 25-17 win. The offense came back to life at a .391 hitting clip thanks to 11 assists from junior setter Nicholas Slight. Slight utilized sophomore middle blocker Cameron Thorne at the net and Hickman at the pin each finishing with four kills on 10 total attacks. The Lopes led wire-to-wire jumping out to a 4-0 lead that grew to an 8-2 advantage quickly.

The third set was more of the same in a 25-18 GCU win. The Lopes took control from the service line thanks to senior opposite Camden Gianni's three aces while the Lopes as a team had one service error compared to six from NJIT. It was the Highlanders that held a 12-10 lead but the Lopes grab the lead back for good thanks to an extended 7-2 run. Gianni had a solo 3-0 run of his own with a kill and two straight service aces to make it a 16-14 lead. Hickman collected the final kill as the Lopes wrapped up the set with just one attacking error.

GCU wrapped up the match with a 25-16 fourth set win. Strong hitting numbers at .444 and four more service aces for the Lopes highlighted the final set of the night. Hickman collected five kills with no errors while Slight and sophomore setter Jaxon Herr came off the bench to split setter duties collecting a combined 10 assists. NJIT jumped out to an early 3-1 lead that was quickly erased thanks to an 8-2 Lopes run that flipped the score at 10-4. Leading 20-15, GCU closed out the set on a 5-1 run. Graduate opposite Jarrett Anderson came off the bench and collected a kill while senior middle Rico Wardlow had a pair of aces in the frame.

The Lopes and Highlanders will square off again tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Global Credit Union Arena.