No. 1 GCU travels to Outrigger Invitational


No. 1 Grand Canyon Lopes (15-0)	vs	No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters (12-4)	No. 3 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (14-1)	No. 14 Lewis Flyers (10-8)
		Thursday, March 7 7 p.m. (Phoenix time)	Friday, March 8 10 p.m. (Phoenix time)	Sunday, March 10 5 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Match Notes		Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats	Live Stats

The top-ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team travels to Hawaii for three matches against ranked opponents in the Outrigger Invitational over four days in Hawaii. The Lopes will face a pair of top-five teams in No. 5 UC Irvine on Thursday and No. 3 Hawaii on Friday, along with No. 14 Lewis on Sunday.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

RANKED OPPONENTS: The Lopes have faced six straight ranked opponents and will face three more in the Outrigger Invitational. GCU has only dropped one set in the last six matches and have started 6-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with wins over No. 6 BYU, No. 10 USC and No. 8 Stanford.
SLIGHT MPSF HONOR: Junior setter Nicholas Slight was named MPSF Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Lopes with 10.5 assists per set in two sweeps over USC. Slight collected 63 assists along with three kills and had just one service error in 27 attempts.
BACK ON THE BIG ISLAND: The Lopes return to Hawaii for the first time since the 2020 season opener at the Rainbow Warrior Classic. Senior opposite Camden Gianni made his collegiate debut in Hawaii, collecting 13 kills, three digs and a pair of service errors against Harvard.

SCOUTING

UC Irvine stayed at No. 5 in the national rankings thanks to a six-match winning streak against Stanford, Concordia and UC San Diego. The Anteaters are one of three Big West teams ranked inside the top five, joining Hawaii and Long Beach State. UC Irvine is the national leader in kills per set (13.3) and assists per set (12.5).

Hawaii enters this weekend at No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll while riding a 13-match winning streak. The Rainbow Warriors' only loss came back on Jan. 5 against Loyola Chicago. Entering this weekend, Hawaii leads the nation with .408 hitting and 2.6 aces per set.

Lewis sits at 10-8 with a 4-4 record in conference play. The Flyers are 3-2 in their last five matches with losses to ranked opponents Long Beach State and Ohio State. Junior Max Roquet leads the team with 3.35 kills per set at a .304 hitting clip while libero Nico Paula leads the team with 2.2 digs per set.

WHAT'S NEXT?

GCU returns home for a pair of matches against NJIT on March 15 and 16.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Camden Gianni

Nicholas Slight

Grand Canyon University Athletics