Beating Wyoming again bumps GCU in MW race - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Saturday, October 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-10,5-5Mountain West

Wyoming

10-11,3-7Mountain West

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Wyoming	20	25	26	28	9	2
Grand Canyon	25	17	24	30	15	3

Photo by: Kaily Green

10/24/2026 5:35:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score

5-set home win ties Lopes for 4th; Williams crushes 27 kills

By: Paul Coro

The trust Grand Canyon head coach Kendra Potts has in her volleyball team is built in the process of the Lopes' work week.

Macey Hughes

So when a tightly contested third set went to Wyoming for a 2-1 Cowgirls lead Saturday, Potts reminded her lineup that she trusted them so the players should trust themselves.

With the trust, the Lopes hit thrust to sweep the series against Wyoming after a 25-20, 17-25, 24-26, 30-28, 15-9 conference win at Global Credit Union Arena. GCU (11-10, 5-5 Mountain West) started the week in a four-way tie for sixth place and enters next week in a tie for fourth place, a crucial spot for the four-team Mountain West Championship on Nov. 24-25.

"It's the wins you get starting Monday," Potts said. "Our girls have been very intentional about that, and I do think it's carrying over to game day. They're playing like they're getting to and they're executing.

"I'm really proud that they're able to see the fruits of their labor. We've been pruning for a while, and now we're starting to get some blossoms. We've been pruned for a reason, but we can grow back even stronger."

GCU hit better than .350 in each set it won with Lopes fifth-year outside hitter Starr Williams posting the second-highest kill total (27) of her career and hitting better than .400 in consecutive matches for the first time this season.

Williams' kills notched one-third of the Lopes' fifth-set points after she put away the fourth set on the Lopes' sixth set point, using a crosscourt assist by sophomore Bella Nunez to finish the 30-28 thriller.

"Starr is not keeping anything in the tank," Potts said. "She's making pushes for everything. She's pursuing balls that might not have been pursued in the early parts of the season. You can see she hears the clock ticking. It's a lot of fun to witness the level that Starr can play."

It was more of the same from Williams, who is averaging 22 kills over the past five matches. She had a Saturday accomplice in senior outside hitter Katie Schulz, who went from backcourt to frontcourt midway through the match and delivered 14 kills on .452 hitting without an error.

"With Katie, it's not hard because she is still learning with her eyes when she's off the court," Potts said. "She's paying attention to the matchups of her sub. She's seeing what teams are running inside-out. When we put her in, she already knows. We're blessed that she's so locked in and that she's still training with her eyes when she's on the bench."

After moving to the pin during the third set, Schulz nearly helped GCU pull it out with kills that tied the score at 23-23 and 24-24 before Wyoming scored twice for the win.

But the Wisconsin native was crucial with five kills in the tight fourth set, when the teams combined for 13 consecutive sideouts before Nunez tied the match at 2-2 with a block for set point and an assist to Williams for the winner.

"I trusted Katie right away," said Nunez, who had 30 assists while fellow setter Taylor Kubacak posted 31. "I set her a few, and I was like, 'She's on fire.' I'm just going to give her the ball, and she did so good. Fourteen kills with zero errors? That's amazing."

Schulz added three more kills in the fifth set, helping GCU shoot out to a 7-4 lead and never relinquishing the advantage until the match winner came on sophomore opposite Macey Hughes' seventh kill.

"It was super cool because our bench does amazing, and we have such a great community at home," Schulz said. "After the win Thursday, we had a chance to verify ourselves. That's exactly what we did. It was a serve-and-pass game, and then throughout that, we had to make better defensive moves and smarter offensive decisions, and that's exactly what we did."

One of the major in-match improvements came with GCU's right-side block to slow down Wyoming outside hitter Pagie Lauterasser, who led the Cowgirls with 25 kills but only recorded one in the fifth set. The Lopes made six blocks in the third set with Hughes having back-to-back solos and an assist.

Nunez was a part of that block effort, but she also made clutch kills, including a back-row attack that swung the third set by putting GCU ahead 11-8.

Aubrey Goodere

The Lopes' first undefeated week of the season put them in a fourth-place tie with UTEP with eight regular-season matches remaining for each team.

"We've been craving this," Nunez said. "We're always saying we're hungry, and we're hungry for this coming again too."

GCU middle blockers Aubrey Bellus, a sophomore, and Audrey Goodere, a junior, also slowed down Wyoming's offense and combined for 17 kills. They combined with freshman Nika Zupanic of Croatia, playing her first week as starting libero, for a transition defense that smoothed out the Lopes' passing game. Zupanic improved as the match went and registered 22 digs and a reverse bump assist that gave GCU match point.

On Thursday and next Saturday, the Lopes play at third-place New Mexico, which has a 6-3 Mountain West record entering a Sunday home match against San José State.

"Let's carry over some confidence, but let's also realize that the next day is the one we need to win," Potts said. "I want them to feel the high. They deserve that, but now we go back to work. We're going to win Sunday treatment. We're going to win Monday workout. That helps us be a better version of ourselves next week when we play a very good UNM."