MPSF Championship begins; Lopes aim for more than awards


(2) Grand Canyon Lopes (22-4, 10-2 MPSF)	vs.	(7) Concordia Irvine Golden Eagles (6-18, 0-12 MPSF)
		Wednesday, April 17 3 p.m., Galen Center
Live Stats		Live Video

The fourth-ranked Grand Canyon men's volleyball team heads into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament as the second seed with a quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded Concordia Irvine at USC's Galen Center.

The matches will be streamed live on Flo Volleyball.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

ACCOLADES: Tuesday marked a big day for Lopes stars Camden Gianni and Nicholas Slight were named to the All-MPSF first team, while teammates Jackson Hickman and Cameron Thorne were named to the All-MPSF second team. Rico Wardlow was an honorable mention. In addition, Gianni was named MPSF Offensive Player of the Week and American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING: GCU players will look to make history in multiple career categories. Gianni can beat his own season record for aces. He is only one behind last year's record of 49. Slight, a junior setter, is nine assists shy of second place on the Lopes career assists list with 2,728.
HISTORY: The Lopes last faced Concordia Irvine at the end of March, when they took two sweeps and have now won three straight matches against the Golden Eagles dating back to last season. In the most recent match against each other, Concordia was led by Ties Cornelissen's 10 kills.

SCOUTING CONCORDIA

Concordia enters this weekend on a 13-game losing streak, 11 of which came against ranked opponents. Concordia had three MPSF All-Freshman award-winners in outside hitters Ties Cornelissen and Christian Galoppo and setter Yotam Briger.

WHAT'S NEXT?

With a Wednesday win, GCU would advance to the MPSF semifinals on Thursday with a reseeding. The highest-seeded quarterfinal winners will play each other, and top-seeded UCLA will face the lowest-seeded quarterfinal winner. The conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic bid will be on the line Saturday at 6:05 p.m. The NCAA Selection Show will take place Sunday at 10 a.m. on NCAA.com. The NCAA tournament runs from April 30-May 4 at Long Beach State.