Grand Canyon University Athletics
Werle adds Girten as assistant coach
7/1/2024 9:30:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
New GCU staffer brings collegiate, club experience from San Diego
The Grand Canyon men's volleyball program's hiring of assistant coach Jon Girten completes the process of restructuring the squad after the best season in Lopes program history.
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Girten comes to GCU after a strong stint at UC San Diego. The San Diego native has been a part of the Tritons staff for seven seasons with his first year coinciding with the inaugural season of Big West men's volleyball. During the 2022 season, UCSDÂ reached a No. 8 ranking in the country.
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Girten helped produce five 2023 All-Big West honorees. A quartet of Tritons also were selected to the Big West All-Freshman Team. During this year's season, Girten helped guide the Tritons to ranked victories against USC, CSUN (twice) and Hawai'i.
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"We are so lucky to have Jon join our staff," said GCU head coach Matt Werle, the 2024 American Volleyball Coaches Assocation's Coach of the Year. "Not only is he a great coach, he is also a great man."
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Prior to entering the collegiate coaching world, Girten coached at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego for 11 seasons from 2007-17. He initially was the junior varsity and assistant varsity coach, aiding in three CIF titles from 2008-10. Over the next four seasons as boys varsity head coach, he directed his squad to three consecutive Palomar League crowns from 2015-17 as well as CIF Division I championships in 2014 and 2016. He was named Mt. Carmel's Coach of the Year in 2016.
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Girten will join a GCU program that just made history with four AVCA All-Americans, matching the national high and marking the first time that any Lope was named to the first team. GCU set a single-season win record for the second consecutive year, posting a 26-5 record with its first-ever NCAA tournament win coming in a sweep of Ohio State.
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Despite losing talent to exhausted eligibility, the Lopes bring in another talented roster with transfers Trent Moser, Cole Ottmar and Cole Duncan. They are joined by a talented freshman class, which includes two AVCA High School All-America second-teamers in Ryan Enos and Connor Oldani.
"Jon will control our block and defense," Werle said. "He brings great energy and has been in the game for a really long time. He knows the ins and outs of Division I men's volleyball and is a phenomenal recruiter. I just can't say enough great things, and we can't wait to welcome him with open arms in Arizona."
At the club level, Girten has coached with WAVE since 2020. Before that, he was with Seaside, which won a bronze medal in the Open Division at the 2017 Junior Nationals.
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Girten was a two-year varsity player as a middle blocker at Mt. Carmel before being selected to the All-Orange Empire Conference first team twice at Palomar College in San Diego County.
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Girten comes to GCU after a strong stint at UC San Diego. The San Diego native has been a part of the Tritons staff for seven seasons with his first year coinciding with the inaugural season of Big West men's volleyball. During the 2022 season, UCSDÂ reached a No. 8 ranking in the country.
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Girten helped produce five 2023 All-Big West honorees. A quartet of Tritons also were selected to the Big West All-Freshman Team. During this year's season, Girten helped guide the Tritons to ranked victories against USC, CSUN (twice) and Hawai'i.
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"We are so lucky to have Jon join our staff," said GCU head coach Matt Werle, the 2024 American Volleyball Coaches Assocation's Coach of the Year. "Not only is he a great coach, he is also a great man."
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Prior to entering the collegiate coaching world, Girten coached at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego for 11 seasons from 2007-17. He initially was the junior varsity and assistant varsity coach, aiding in three CIF titles from 2008-10. Over the next four seasons as boys varsity head coach, he directed his squad to three consecutive Palomar League crowns from 2015-17 as well as CIF Division I championships in 2014 and 2016. He was named Mt. Carmel's Coach of the Year in 2016.
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Girten will join a GCU program that just made history with four AVCA All-Americans, matching the national high and marking the first time that any Lope was named to the first team. GCU set a single-season win record for the second consecutive year, posting a 26-5 record with its first-ever NCAA tournament win coming in a sweep of Ohio State.
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Despite losing talent to exhausted eligibility, the Lopes bring in another talented roster with transfers Trent Moser, Cole Ottmar and Cole Duncan. They are joined by a talented freshman class, which includes two AVCA High School All-America second-teamers in Ryan Enos and Connor Oldani.
"Jon will control our block and defense," Werle said. "He brings great energy and has been in the game for a really long time. He knows the ins and outs of Division I men's volleyball and is a phenomenal recruiter. I just can't say enough great things, and we can't wait to welcome him with open arms in Arizona."
At the club level, Girten has coached with WAVE since 2020. Before that, he was with Seaside, which won a bronze medal in the Open Division at the 2017 Junior Nationals.
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Girten was a two-year varsity player as a middle blocker at Mt. Carmel before being selected to the All-Orange Empire Conference first team twice at Palomar College in San Diego County.
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Senior Reflections
Wednesday, April 15
Baptized at GCU
Tuesday, April 14
Singles off BOTH bags. ONE inning. 🤯 #baseball
Sunday, April 12
HOMER from the DRONE 🥎 #collegesoftball
Saturday, April 11