Winning streak hits season-best 5 - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Thursday, November 5

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-10,8-5Mountain West

San José State

7-17,2-11Mountain West

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
San Jose St.	13	25	17	22	1
Grand Canyon	25	22	25	25	3

Photo by: Kaily Green

11/5/2026 10:04:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU stays in 3rd place in MW with 4-set win, holds Senior Day on Saturday

By: Paul Coro

When Grand Canyon volleyball needed wins to climb the Mountain West standings, the Lopes stepped up their level and turned clutch to rip off four conference wins in a row.

Back at home Thursday night, GCU showed the best part of its consistency is being in the habit of winning. The Lopes extended the Mountain West's longest winning streak to five by beating San José State 25-13, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22 to remain in third place entering Saturday's rematch at Global Credit Union Arena.

Volleyball huddle

"I think the girls are feeling the confidence that they should have," GCU head coach Kenrdra Potts said of the season-best winning streak. "They're all great volleyball players. I'm just happy they believe that."

The Lopes hit .338, their fourth-best clip of the season, with outside hitters Katie Schulz and Starr Williams delivering 14 and 13 kills, respectively, atop a balanced attack of five Lopes with eight or more kills.

Schulz made one attacking error on 34 swings and hit .382. In GCU's last 14 matches, Schulz's top hitting matches have come during the winning streak with Potts attesting that to her patience and court vision.

Katie Schulz

"It has to do with staying in system," said Schulz, the 6-foot-1 native of Appleton, Wisconsin. "It has to do with the setters running tempo and getting it to the window. Keeping tempo was what kept it consistent, and I was able to go for it and find vision very clearly. I got a lot of splits on the block too, which is super cool."

The Lopes (14-10, 8-5 MW) blew open a tight first set when sophomore opposite Macey Hughes (nine kills on .529 hitting) cranked three consecutive kills from three different teammates' sets. That broke open GCU's 12-11 edge and sent the Lopes on a 13-2 finish to the set, which ended on sophomore setter Taylor Kubacak's ace – one of eight that GCU served Thursday.

"They're understanding that with wins, there are expectations with the response," GCU associate head coach Casey Shingler said. "There are expectations of how we prepare for the next match. For them to come out the first set the way we did, it was a product of how we were mentally prepared for it. But we've got to fix how we played in Set 2 and how we started Set 4."

The Lopes hitting remained sharp when they were in system in the second set, but the Spartans served tough and challenged the Lopes' block to pull out a 25-22 set with a blistering .571 hitting percentage.

GCU's service game pressured San José State back with three early third-set aces to build an 11-6 lead. The Lopes stayed ahead with Kubacak and sophomore Bella Nunez moving the attack around to Schulz, Williams and Hughes for a 25-17 win and a 2-1 match lead.

That carried over to the third set, when Nunez's 23-assist, 20-dig night added a pair of critical kills, including one on one of freshman libero Nika Zupanic's two assists in the fourth set.

Zupanic, who is from Croatia, moved into the main libero role at the start of the winning streak after adjusting to her first season of American volleyball on the fly. With 11 digs Thursday, she has posted six consecutive double-digit dig totals.

"I am feeling more like myself," Zupanic said. "I really want to show what I can do, so I'm really happy that I have a chance to play as a libero and bring my energy and my confidence.

"The energy that's here is crazy, but I think I'm adjusting well. I'm also going crazy with them. The play is fast, and everyone is really athletic. There weren't those kind of players in Europe. I like this way of volleyball because I can do a lot more. It is more fun. I have more excitement, and I'm always learning something new."

Zupanic's bump assist for Schulz's final kill put GCU ahead 21-19 as the Lopes held off the Spartans down the stretch. Williams put down a strike on match point, concluding her eighth consecutive match with double-digit kills.

"I'm really happy that we managed and we won," Zupanic said. "The things weren't going how we wanted because San José State really pushed us. We were having high mentality and kept it up, so that's why I'm really happy. That means we're a good team mentally."

Starr Williams

The Lopes are on a five-match winning streak for the first time since opening last season 5-0. They go for their first six-match winning streak since 2023 when they run it back with the Spartans at 11:30 a.m. Saturday for Senior Day.

"There are small changes to be made that are going to make big impacts," Shingler said. "But for the defensive end, that's going to be a big focus of ours."

GCU moved within a half-game of second-place UC Davis, which plays UTEP on Friday night. With five regular-season matches remaining, the Lopes are a half-game ahead of fourth-place UTEP and one game ahead of UNLV and New Mexico. The top four teams qualify for the Nov. 24-25 Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas.

"We've just experienced so much growth, and what's so cool about this is that toward the end of the season, the growth just continues to get more," Schulz said. "It's exponential. I'm just so grateful that we have coaches that are willing to push us that way. The players are so coachable and attainable, and we're able to replicate that during the game."