No.3 Lopes fall to No.2 Bruins

Friday, April 5

Los Angeles, Calif.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-3,8-1MPSF

UCLA

19-4,8-1MPSF

Grand Canyon

UCLA

4/5/2024 9:46:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

GCU returns to UCLA on Saturday for round 2

By: Nathan Peters

LOS ANGELES – The No. 3 Grand Canyon men's volleyball team lost Friday night to No. 2 UCLA 25-16, 25-22, 25-19 in the first of two conference matches this weekend at Pauley Pavilion.

The Lopes (20-3, 8-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) struggled to score with strong middle play from the Bruins (19-4, 8-1 MPSF), who had 12 blocks to the Lopes' two to tie the teams for first place in the MPSF.

GCU sophomore middle blocker Cameron Thorne was five for five on the night with two blocks, and Lopes senior opposite Camden Gianni also had two assisted blocks.

The first set began with an early 3-2 lead thanks to an opening point ace from junior setter Nicholas Slight. After that, GCU struggled to maintain control. In the middle of the set, the Bruins went on a 15-8 run to take a 19-12 lead, and they maintained control to win the first set 25-16.

The Lopes followed the first-set struggle with some momentum in the second set, when a five-point run put GCU up 19-16. The run was built on senior outside hitter Jackson Hickman's serves with some errors from the UCLA attack. Shortly after a couple timeouts, the Bruins chipped away and regained the lead before an eventual kill to put the set away 25-22.

Despite the GCU hitting percentage of .333 versus a UCLA percentage of .300, the Bruins still did enough in other areas to take the set and a 2-0 match lead.

One bright spot in the third set was graduate Jarrett Anderson, a Florida native had three kills on six attempts.

Led by Slight, the Lopes won the dig battle with 15, with six coming from Slight. Despite the effort, the team mark accounted for a season low.

The junior setter also led the team in assists with 25.

After the rough close to the second set, it appeared the momentum had swung for the worse with UCLA opening the third set on a 7-3 run.

UCLA continued its strong night with a match-high 14 kills in the final set, putting the finishing touches on with a Grant Sloane kill on match point.

The only other match the Lopes have been swept in this season came to Hawaii, which resulted in a dramatic reverse sweep win the next day against Lewis.

With GCU's Friday loss, the Saturday match slated for 5 p.m. now holds even more weight as the Lopes look to rebound from their first conference loss and take back first place.