Beach reaches high for season with NCAAs potential

Friday, February 20

Phoenix, Ariz.

9 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Colorado Mesa

2/19/2026 12:06:00 PM | Beach Volleyball, Paul Coro

Lopes return 6 starters, face national champ TCU at opening home event

By: Paul Coro

When Grand Canyon beach volleyball head coach Abra Rummel was establishing the program tenets for this season, she began with confidence.

She replaced confidence with belief for a Lopes team aspiring to hit the next program level when the season starts with a four-match weekend at GCU Beach Volleyball Stadium.

"Confidence is that you can, but belief is that you will," Rummel said. "I believe that we will this year. I believe that we will compete and beat some of the best teams in the country."

That mission for No. 13 GCU will be tested at 5 p.m. Friday against No. 5 TCU, the defending national champion, and for a state championship of sorts Saturday against No. 11 ASU at 11:30 a.m. and Arizona at 4:30 p.m.

After finishing last season at No. 13 but on the outside of the 16-team NCAA Tournament because of automatic bids, the Lopes built up their roster strength, physical strength and conference strength for a run at securing the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2023.

There is confidence within the program that is affirmed from the periphery, where onlookers from coaches to officials remarked through fall play about how gritty and deep GCU looked.

"So much of it goes back to the type of people we are bringing into GCU," Rummel said. "Truly, the people I get to work with every day make it so that I have the best job in the world. These are all amazing young women who show up every day and are willing to give everything they can for themselves and the person next to them for the team, the program and the school. When you get a group of very driven, hard-working, very motivated women together, that cycle perpetuates itself."

Six of the 10 starters who finished last season return for this season, with program mainstays Jessica Drake and Katie Keefe headlining that group as top Lopes blockers entering their senior seasons. Along with other key returnees, Becca Drake, Karynn Garrow, Rhea Kohl and Mae Manthe, the Lopes are building off a 23-win 2025 season that included beating eight top-20 opponents.

Phoenix, AZ March 29, 2024 : Grand Canyon Antelopes Katie Keefe (12) during their 3-2- loss against Arizona at home. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ March 29, 2024 : Grand Canyon Antelopes Katie Keefe (12) during their 3-2- loss against Arizona at home. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"It's really motivated us and made us more hungry for success this year," Keefe said. "Our team has been working really, really hard this semester. I can honestly say, this is the hardest-working team I've ever been on. The team culture is so strong. That just fueled us to become even stronger. I'm excited to see how we can bump ourselves up."

GCU is striving for a top-10 national ranking finish that would put it in ideal position for NCAA Tournament consideration after being two spots away last season. Winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation secures an automatic bid, but no team can count on that in a conference that includes five preseason top-10 teams and eight top-20 members.

The Lopes are starting their season ambitiously with TCU being the highest-ranked opponent to visit GCU Volleyball Stadium since 2018.

"If we want to be at the national championships, then we have to be nationally competitive," Rummel said. "That means you have to go out and find the best teams. We use the wave metaphor a lot in our program. The surfer doesn't look for the little wave to go on his paddleboard. He waits for the big wave because he wants to see what he's made of. We want to see what we're made of. We want to measure against the best. We want to give ourselves an opportunity to compete and hopefully beat them."

Rummel said the mix of high-ceiling talent, positive attitudes and work ethics has fostered amazing progress through months of preseason work on the sand, in the weight room and in conditioning.

Keefe, a 6-foot-2 London native who played on Court 1 last season, and Jessica Drake, a 5-9 native of Clovis, California, are joined by Garrow, a 6-foot junior who went 24-8 last season, for GCU's strong trio of returning blockers who are net stoppers that retreat well into defense.

"Our hard work is going to pay off, whether that's the first weekend right off the bat or whether that's going to show later in the season," said Jessica Drake, who has been at GCU since a 2022 redshirt season. "I think we've put in the work in preseason and we have just such a strong lineup, so many returners and experience, people who have transferred from other programs, people who can play any spot in the lineup. That trust in each other and the relationships built along the way is going to carry us through."

Becca Drake, a junior, is the lone returning full-time defender. She teamed with her older sister, Jessica, for a 24-5 pair record last season, contributing to Jessica's 65 career victories.

"Becca is phenomenal," Rummel said. "She's everything you want a GCU beach volleyball defender to be – gritty, never gives up, finds way to make miracle digs and then does something super athletic as an attacker and puts it away."

Kohl, a 5-10 Toronto native who played on Courts 1-3 last season, and Manthe, a 5-10 native of Cherry Creek, Colorado, bring back a fun, athletic style as split blockers who wear down opponents with their control and movement.

Sophomore Michael Wittren, also a Colorado native, and junior Sarah Edler, who is from Round Rock, Texas, are program returnees who have advanced their games into starting roles.

The Lopes brought in a pair of Stetson transfers to bolster the defense. Sophomores Youna Coens, a 5-10 Belgian, and Grace Goudy, a 5-6 native of Clovis, California, arrived at a high level from a top-20 program and have progressed.

GCU also added 5-10 junior Isabelle Tucker, who missed the last two season at national runner-up Loyola Marymount for injury but is expected to return this season with an impact.

"The coolest part is I can say every person is playing the best volleyball that they've ever played," Rummel said. "As a coach, that's a really neat thing to see. Even when there's not a ton of room for them to make improvements, they're still finding ways to get better."

Edler and Wittren cracking the lineup and Manthe joining it at the end of last season are the best examples of player progression in the program.

GCU starts testing the team's bump at home with a Senior Day dual at 9 a.m. Friday against Colorado Mesa before a 5 p.m. match against TCU. On Saturday, the Lopes will have matches against No. 11 Arizona State at 11:30 a.m. and Arizona at 4:30 p.m. at GCU Beach Volleyball Stadium, where they have won 11 consecutive dual matches.

"I had an opposing coach say we were one of the deepest teams he had seen all fall," Rummel said. "Overall, deciding on the top 10 for us was a really difficult thing for us that came right down to the wire. Volleyball partnerships are art, not science. Finding what works takes time. We look at it from a five-flight scenario."