Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Wesley Kurz
Werle wins MPSF Coach of the Year
4/24/2024 9:28:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
His 9th season at GCU helm includes MPSF tourney title, program-best record
Grand Canyon men's volleyball head coach Matt Werle won his first Coach of the Year award from the Mountain Pacific Sports Foundation.
Werle was chosen as the conference's top coach this season after leading GCU to the MPSF Championship title last week, including setting a program record for wins for the second consecutive season.
The Lopes are 25-4, the nation's second-best winning percentage (.862), as they take the NCAA tournament's No. 3 seed into a Tuesday quarterfinal against Ohio State in Long Beach, California.
This is GCU's second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, but this season marked the first time that the Lopes made a MPSF Championship appearance. There, GCU knocked off No. 1 UCLA for the program's second win over a national No. 1 team in four years (defeated No. 1 BYU in 2021).
GCU went 10-4 this season against top-10 teams and placed five players on All-MPSF teams for the first time in program history (Camden Gianni and Nicholas Slight on first team, Cameron Thorne and Jackson Hickman on second team and Rico Wardlow on third team).
Werle, who is 153-92 as GCU head coach, started coaching at GCU as a graduate assistant for the 2012 and 2013 seasons before becoming an assistant coach in 2014. He has led the program since serving as interim head coach for the 2016 season.
Werle was chosen as the conference's top coach this season after leading GCU to the MPSF Championship title last week, including setting a program record for wins for the second consecutive season.The Lopes are 25-4, the nation's second-best winning percentage (.862), as they take the NCAA tournament's No. 3 seed into a Tuesday quarterfinal against Ohio State in Long Beach, California.
This is GCU's second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, but this season marked the first time that the Lopes made a MPSF Championship appearance. There, GCU knocked off No. 1 UCLA for the program's second win over a national No. 1 team in four years (defeated No. 1 BYU in 2021).
GCU went 10-4 this season against top-10 teams and placed five players on All-MPSF teams for the first time in program history (Camden Gianni and Nicholas Slight on first team, Cameron Thorne and Jackson Hickman on second team and Rico Wardlow on third team).
Werle, who is 153-92 as GCU head coach, started coaching at GCU as a graduate assistant for the 2012 and 2013 seasons before becoming an assistant coach in 2014. He has led the program since serving as interim head coach for the 2016 season.
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