GCU beach volleyball to join The Big West

Grand Canyon beach volleyball will join The Big West beginning with the 2028 season, giving the Lopes a new conference home that includes some of the sport's strongest West Coast programs.

As an affiliate member, GCU will join a conference that includes Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, CSUN, Hawai'i, Long Beach State, Sacramento State and San José State. The Big West has built a strong beach volleyball identity, while providing its champion with automatic qualification to the NCAA Championship.

The conference move comes as GCU continues to build a nationally recognized beach volleyball program. GCU was Arizona's only beach volleyball program to qualify for the NCAA Tournament during the 2026 season, marking the program's third national tournament appearance in the last five seasons. Lopes head coach Abra Rummel agreed to a multi-year contract extension after the successful season.

"We are excited for the next step for our program," Rummel said. "The Big West has programs with a lot of history in beach volleyball. Our goals at GCU are not changing. We want to develop at a high level, schedule nationally, compete for championships and put ourselves in position to play our best volleyball at the end of the season."

Rummel, who will enter her fourth season as GCU head coach in 2026-27, led the Lopes to the No. 11 seed in the 16-team NCAA Championship field as Arizona's only NCAA Tournament team. GCU finished No. 11 in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll.

After beginning as an independent, GCU competed in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association in 2023 before transitioning to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for the 2025 through 2027 seasons.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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