Chip remains as Lopes revamp Final Four team

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/8/2025 11:10:00 AM | Men's Volleyball, Paul Coro

GCU opens season with 2 returning starters, 10 newcomers

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon men's volleyball built its program to a nationally acclaimed status with chips weighing on their shoulders for a resistance workout that strengthened the Lopes.

The greatest GCU seasons broke through to the NCAA tournament in 2023 and the Final Four in 2024, but the chip of being underestimated remains when the Lopes' season starts this weekend in New Jersey.

With last season's top four scorers and starting setter gone and 10 newcomers melding, the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion was picked fifth in its conference preseason poll and No. 9 in the national preseason poll. Just like how it set a standard set by going 48-13 over the past two seasons, GCU carries that same chip into season-opening matches Friday and Saturday at NJIT and home openers the following weekend against George Mason.

"The returners have done a nice job of setting that precedent," GCU 10th-year head coach Matt Werle said. "With half of the roster being new, we knew that we're going to be a different, new team. In figuring out this team's identity, we're starting to get it and I know we can compete with the best."

The roster underwent significant turnover from the Lopes squad that went five sets with Final Four host Long Beach State in a national semifinal, but GCU's talent and scrappiness remains comparable.

The carryover comes with the help of returning starters Cooper Herndon, a fifth-year senior libero, and Jarrett Anderson, a 6-foot-5 graduate opposite, as well as fifth-year senior outside hitter Karter Rogers, who started 16 matches last season.

They are among the players leading an influx of freshmen and transfers who will have immediate impacts after program staples Camden Gianni, Jackson Hickman and Nic Slight moved to the professional ranks.

"The last few years, we were able to roll the balls out there, run through some stuff quickly and compete at a really high level," Werle said. "We knew what we were going to get. It's been refreshing to get back to some foundational work and coach our philosophies. It's been a different vibe, and a really positive and healthy one."

Herndon is a leader on the court in that regarding, having grown from a player who did not get in a match for the 2021 and 2022 seasons to an elite libero with "exponential growth, even from last year to this year," Werle said.

The Dallas native closed last season with a 14-dig effort in the national semifinal.

"The culture has shifted a little bit, but at the heart, we have that competitive chip on our shoulder that we've always had," Herndon said. "We have a new team that's blending a lot of really positive good culture. As a whole, we're all growing together. We have a group now where everybody is capable of doing something super-beneficial for the whole team.

"We have a bunch of good guys. We have good attitudes. We have good effort. We have good energy. We have a lot of hard workers in the gym, and I think it's going to do us very well in the long run. We're going to have a lot of grit and fight for games late in the season."

Anderson was No. 3 on the team in kills per set (2.3) and points per set (2.8) last season in his first GCU season after transferring from Division III Springfield. During the postseason, he averaged 12.4 kills over the Lopes' final five matches with the tempo his lefthanded arm brings.

Karter Rodgers

He pairs with another 6-foot-5 returnee at the pin in Rogers, a Denver native who has developed into a featured role.

"Karter has a very special arm," Werle said. "He's vertical and can go stuff some balls. He's a guy who is getting better each day that he plays and each day that he competes against an opponent."

GCU's depth will rotate several arms, including BYU transfer Trent Moser. The 6-foot-8 native of nearby Gilbert, Arizona, started 18 matches at BYU and is part of a crew that may grow into the season as it gets comfortable. But they won't lack for confidence about thriving from the get-go.

"I think we'll make a pretty big impression right away," Moser said. "We've had the whole preseason together and we all bought in together. We're a brand-new team.

"Everyone is pretty confident together, and we're figuring out how to work together. If we just stay together, we're going to be very strong and it's going to be fun to watch."

The other pair of impact transfers are 6-9 senior middle blocker Cole Duncanson, who came from Charleston with a positive, energetic presence, and 6-5 outside hitter Cole Ottmar, who came from Hawai'i and established himself as GCU's best out-of-system attacker.

"We have some good depth and good young talent," Werle said. "There are going to be some ups and downs this season. We know that. It's just a matter of who is going to put a good product out there really consistently. I think there's going to be a lot of changes in the first half because there's a lot of talent and guys deserve that chance."

Setting the depth of big-swinging arms will be junior Jaxon Herr, an alumnus of Phoenix's Sandra Day O'Connor High School. GCU will travel three setters on its opening 15-player travel squad with junior Aidan Case and freshman Kyle Zediker also going.

"Jaxon's got that chip on his shoulder that we like out of that setter position," Werle said. "Slight showed that a lot, and Jaxon still has it. It's just a matter of getting him more consistent with quality and making sure he's making the right choice the first time every time."

Zediker is among the impact players in a seven-freshman class that reminds Werle of when Gianni and Hickman entered the program. Connor Oldani, a 6-5 outside hitter and Brophy College Preparatory graduate, has brought a Hickman-like competitiveness while 6-5 Braedon Marquardt of Anaheim Hills, California, and 6-10 Trevell Jordan, a Desert Ridge High School graduate from Mesa, are vying for a starting middle blocker job.

"We had powerhouses like Camden Gianni and Nic Slight and all those guys who brought all that heat and energy," Herndon said. "They just had that intensity from the start. I don't think it's going to be pulling teeth trying to get it out of these guys. The gears will start turning, and it's just going to happen. Once it happens, we're going to start rolling and we'll keep rolling."

The Lopes will have plenty of opportunity to prove themselves with 13 matches against seven opponents who also begin the season ranked in the nation's top 13. Last season's GCU team took off with a 15-0 start and went 10-0 at home.

"There's still going to be some fun things and highlight-reel things that people will be excited for," Werle said. "That's us."