CCSA award winners lead Lopes into postseason

The Grand Canyon beach volleyball team will begin its second and final Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Beach Volleyball Championship appearance with a first-round match against third-seeded LSU on Friday in Huntsville, Alabama.

The second-seeded Lopes (14-17) earned that right after defeating South Carolina and LSU 3-2 in the Midseason CCSA Tournament. GCU will play the tournament's second dual match against No. 10 LSU (24-9). The Lopes and Tigers meet for the first time since late March, when GCU took its highest-ranked victory of the season.

The Lopes head into the tournament behind four CCSA award-winners. Graduate student Mackenzie Harris and redshirt junior Jessica Drake were elected to the all-conference roster after posting a 15-match win streak earlier this season, when they notched 10 victories against top-20 opponents.

Karynn Garrow and Becca Drake were each listed to the conference All-Freshman Team. Garrow was a unanimous selection after she played the majority of her season at the No. 3 pair and has wins against No.19 Arizona, No.18 Stetson and No.12 Hawai'i twice. Drake took a victory in the team win against LSU at No. 4.

The Lopes also had Harris and senior Krista Rowan named to the All-Academic Team.

The victor of the Friday morning match 9:30 a.m. (Phoenix time) will advance and play again Thursday against the victor of top-seeded Florida State vs. fourth-seeded South Carolina, which will take place at 8 a.m. The first-round match's loser will move into the loser's bracket of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday.

The entire tournament will occur at the John Hunt Sand Volleyball Complex and can be viewed on ESPN+. The tournament bracket can be viewed here.

The championship final will be played Saturday at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time).

General admission attendance is free to all dual matches, which will start on all five courts simultaneously.

The Lopes' starting lineup for the CCSA tournament will feature the following order:

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Madi Bogle

Sarah Dickson

Becca Drake

Jessica Drake

Adriana Ferro

Karynn Garrow

Mackenzie Harris

Sophia Hladyniuk

Regan Holmer

Katie Keefe

Krista Rowan

Grand Canyon University Athletics