Thrilling sweep knocks off No. 2 UCLA at GCU

Friday, April 4

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-8,4-5MPSF

UCLA

16-4,6-1MPSF

UCLA

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jack Gilday

4/4/2025 9:00:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Lopes' consistency leads to win over back-to-back national champions

By: Nathan Peters

The Grand Canyon men's volleyball team delivered a thrilling performance, sweeping No. 2 UCLA in straight sets Friday night at Global Credit Union Arena.

GCU (15-8, 4-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) stayed consistent from start to finish handing the Bruins their first loss in conference play with a 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 victory in front of an electric crowd of 1,589 fans. The Lopes have swept a top-10 team in their last two matches at home, where they have won by sweep in six of their last seven matches to improve to 11-2 at Global Credit Union Arena.

Junior outside hitter Trent Moser led the GCU offensive charge with 13 kills on red-hot .423 hitting.

"Trent was good in all areas tonight," Lopes coach Jon Girten said. "He held up in serve-recieve, he came up with some digs and I thought he really applied some block pressure. I don't know that he got a ton of blocks, but their pins had to try to go over our block because I think it just was really well-formed, and I think that's what kind of forced them into some errors early. Offensively, Trent has just been a workhorse for us all year."

Defensively, the Lopes found comfort in the leadership of senior libero Cooper Herndon.

"Cooper was so good tonight," Lopes coach Bryan Dell'Amico said. "We know UCLA comes with just a ton of service pressure. Early on, the tough ones that came in, Coop really fought them off and gave us a chance to get some swings. We just gain so much trust from him really managing serve-receive so well that it settled us down. Defensively, he just dug in and made some really key digs at key moments, which give us opportunities to keep that momentum going."

GCU took the first set with a kill from graduate opposite Jarrett Anderson, Lopes senior outside hitter Karter Rogers' ace and a UCLA error for a 25-19 win.

The second set began at 5-5 before a 7-1 GCU run put the Lopes back in control. The home squad went on to take the second set 25-19 when UCLA had one of its 21 service errors on set point.

"We managed the runs way better than we have all year long," Dell'Amico said. "The whole focus all week was to be simple and aggressive, keep pressure on them, make them have to play and, tonight, I thought we did that."

GCU had a season-low six service errors while the back-to-back national champion Bruins' 21 errors were reflected in their season-low two aces.

Lopes junior setter Jaxon Herr distributed well with 17 assists, nine digs and two kills.

"Jaxon can be a double-edged sword sometimes ,and I think that third set was a little bit of both, but the kid plays with about as much heart as I've ever seen anybody play," Girten said. "I thought he all-around was very good tonight."

The third set saw GCU trailing late 21-19, before senior middle blocker Cole Duncanson went to the service line following a Moser kill.

Duncanson's pressure, along with Moser's swinging, finished the match on a 6-0 run that included three Moser kills and as capped off by Duncanson's first service ace to win it 25-21.

The crowd was involved all night, backing the home squad.

"I think we got a lot of support from the Arizona volleyball community tonight," Girten said. "There were a lot of high school teams in the gym, which really helped. I think that's a big part of what makes this place special, is the support that we get from within the community."

The Lopes have now defeated UCLA in the last two meetings and will host the Bruins again Saturday for their regular-season home finale at 5 p.m. Senior Day festivities will precede the match.

"We talked to the guys all the time about not letting the moment or the game be too big for them," Dell'Amico said. "Trust in the preparation that you've done and just keep doing the things you know you can do. We're going to have to obviously manage those emotions on Senior Day.

"UCLA is going to come back with vengeance obviously and not necessarily play the way they did tonight., but we're OK with that. We want to test ourselves against the best in the country, and that's who they are. Moments like that are what you play the game for."