No. 3 GCU falls in 5-set battle at No. 2 UCLA

Saturday, April 6

Los Angeles, Calif.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-4,8-2MPSF

UCLA

20-4,9-1MPSF

Grand Canyon

UCLA

4/6/2024 9:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes look ahead to Senior Night, final home matches of season

By: Nathan Peters

LOS ANGELES – The No. 3 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team lost a five-set match Saturday night to No. 2 UCLA, 26-14, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-8, in the second conference match this weekend at Pauley Pavilion.

The Lopes (20-4, 8-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) brought energy and played aggressively after getting swept Friday night at UCLA. Unlike Friday, the Lopes led in blocks Saturday with 10 to the Bruins' eight. UCLA (20-4, 9-1 MPSF) experienced some strong GCU defense that forced 21 attacking errors after only drawing seven in the first match.

Despite the errors, the Bruins had 64 kills to the Lopes' 62. The individual kill leader was GCU graduate opposite Jarrett Anderson with 19. The next closest was a tie between Lopes senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman and UCLA's Merrick McHenery with 14 apiece.

The thrilling fifth set came after GCU's dominant fourth-set victory evened the match.

After a 5-5 fifth-set start, UCLA went on a five-point run and had a strong hold for the remainder to take over first place in the conference.

The first set began with a 6-6 start, proving the match was bound to be a battle. GCU had a team hitting percentage of .377, thanks to sophomore middle blocker Cameron Thorne's seven kills on eight attempts, senior middle blocker Rico Wardlow's .444 and Anderson's .405 night.

Thanks to an ace to put the Lopes ahead 23-22 from senior opposite Camden Gianni followed by a kill from junior setter Nicholas Slight, UCLA fought off two set points before the Lopes got them right back to claim the 26-24 set on a Thorne kill.

The second set began with a 10-6 energetic run from UCLA. GCU responded with a four-point run off of three straight attacking errors and a Gianni kill. From then on, the set was back and forth until a service error and an attacking error ked to the Bruins' set point. The ensuing play was a Ethan Champlin kill for a Bruins 25-22 set victory that tied the match at 1-1.

In the third set, the Lopes fell into a 5-2 deficit. The team fought back to knot it at 17-17 after a Hickman kill off one of Slight's 46 assists. UCLA closed the set on a kill despite two prior errors and led the match 2-1.

In the fourth set, GCU forced an early timeout from UCLA after taking a 6-3 lead. Later, Wardlow captured a major block to put the lead at 11-5. The next point, a Gianni kill, grew the lead to 12-5, the largest of the match for GCU. In the clutch, Gianni went to a lefthanded attack around the antenna for a 22-14 lead. A Thorne kill clinched the 25-18 set and tied the match at 2-2.

With the fifth-set loss, GCU moves to second in the MPSF heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

GCU will close the regular season at home against Pepperdine with Thursday and Friday matches at 6 p.m. in Global Credit Union Arena. Friday's match including Senior Night recognition.