Hickman's career night comes in 1st loss

Thursday, March 7

Manoa, Hawaii

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-1,6-0MPSF

UC Irvine

13-4,2-0Big West

UC Irvine

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Darryl Oumi

3/7/2024 10:27:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

No. 1 Lopes fall to No. 5 UC Irvine in 5 set thriller

By: Jerob Moon

HONOLULU – The No. 1 ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team suffered defeat for the first time in 2024 with a close 3-2 loss to No. 5 UC Irvine at the Outrigger Invitational on Thursday night.

In the premier multi-team event of the regular season the Lopes (15-1) face a tough but welcoming challenge against the fifth-ranked Anteaters (13-4) and against third-ranked and host Hawaii on Friday. On Thursday the Lopes were pushed to five sets for the first time after dropping a 29-27 marathon fourth set.

After starting 15-0, the best start in program history the Lopes will taste defeat for the first time in 2024.

Despite the loss the Lopes saw a career-night from senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman. The Phoenix native finished with a career-high 24.5 points, 23 kills and 12 digs. Hickman finished at a .605 hitting clip with no attacking errors on 38 swings.

Hickman's strong performance was a catalyst for GCU rebounding after a 25-21 first set loss. The GCU senior had four kills in a 25-19 second set win before taking over the third set with 10 kills on 11 swings. The Lopes went on to win the third set 26-24 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was tightly contested featuring 23 ties and six lead changes with UCI winning narrowly 29-27. A kill from Hickman and a UCI attack error put the Lopes up 17-15 which marked the first lead of more than one point for either team in the set.

GCU was able to increase that lead to 20-17 but the Anteaters responded with a 5-1 run to take the lead back at 22-21. A GCU triple block from Hickman, sophomore middle blocker Cameron Thorne and senior opposite Camden Gianni gave the Lopes match point at 24-23 but UCI responded with a kill in the next point.

The Lopes saved three consecutive set points and a kill from middle blocker Rico Wardlow tied up the score once again at 27-27. UCI closed out the set by winning the next two points to push the match to a deciding fifth set.

With the momentum in hand the Anteaters won four of the first five points in the final frame and went on to win 15-6 while hitting .643 as a team. The Lopes were unable to develop a rhythm collecting just four kills in the set while hitting .143.

Thorne picked up a career-high 18 points while junior setter Nicholas Slight had a season-high 58 assists. Outside hitters Karter Rogers and Gianni were strong at the service line combining for seven of the team's eight aces.

The Lopes will be back in action for game two of the Outrigger Invitational tomorrow. No. 1 GCU will face No. 3 Hawaii at 10 p.m. (Phoenix time. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and Spectrum Sports.