Trio of 3-2 losses to top-10 teams ends regular season

Friday, April 17

Long Beach, Calif.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Long Beach State

Photo by: Nathan Peters

Trio of 3-2 losses to top-10 teams ends regular season

4/18/2026 7:26:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

Drake surpasses Navas for 2nd all-time career wins

By: Nathan Peters

LOS ANGELES — No. 11 Grand Canyon wrapped up its final regular-season road swing with three matches across the Los Angeles area, opening in Long Beach, Calif., before closing with a pair of contests against No. 9 LMU on Saturday.

The highlight came when redshirt-senior Jessica Drake claimed three wins, moving her to second all-time in career wins at GCU with a total of 82, surpassing Allanis Navas who had 81.

The mark puts her just 4 wins behind the all-time leader Anaya Evans, who finished her career with 86 wins.

The Lopes began the weekend in Long Beach, where junior pair Rhea Kohl and sophomore Mae Manthe continued their dominant run with a victory to extend their winning streak to 15 consecutive matches.

Kohl and Manthe earned a three-set win over Long Beach State's Kiara Edwards and Mahala Esser (21-18, 17-21, 15-10), while senior Jessica Drake and redshirt junior Isabelle Tucker added another point with a straight-sets victory against Kealoha Phillips and Brooke Birch (21-17, 21-19).

The win pushed Kohl and Manthe's streak to 15, tying for the second-longest in program history alongside Drake and Mackenzie Harris' run during the 2024 season.

In Saturday's first meeting in Los Angeles, GCU fell 4-1 to LMU despite a strong showing from Drake and Tucker at the No. 4 flight.

The duo delivered a straight-sets win (21-16, 21-12) for the Lopes' lone point and clinched first in the order of finish. Kohl and Manthe saw their 15-match winning streak come to an end in the dual.

The Lopes responded with a tighter battle in the second matchup but ultimately dropped a 3-2 decision.

Tucker continued her standout day against her former team, teaming with Drake for a three-set victory at the No. 5 flight (16-21, 21-17, 15-13), while freshman Jordyn Decker and sophomore Youna Coens added another point with a straight-sets win at No. 4. Tucker went a perfect 2-0 on the day against LMU, securing wins in both matchups against her former program.

Across the weekend, Grand Canyon showed resilience with key pair performances, highlighted by Kohl and Manthe's historic streak and Tucker's success in her return to Los Angeles, but ultimately came up short in both duals against the nationally ranked Lions.

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship seeding will come out Sunday evening.