Volleyball fills arena, stats in sweep

Friday, September 4

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-2,0-0Mountain West

Louisiana Monroe

2-3,0-0Sun Belt

Team	1	2	3	Final F
ULM	16	20	21	0
Grand Canyon	25	25	25	3

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

9/4/2026 10:14:00 PM | Volleyball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Home-opening crowd of 7,207 watches GCU roll with Nunez starring

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon practiced with crowd noise this week, but that was only the beginning of preparing the Lopes for the unique surroundings of each season's home opener.

Global Credit Union Arena filled with 7,207 fans, often painted in purple, on Friday night with the glow of purple lights, sound of "G-C-U" volley chants and sights of in-uniform Lopes swimmers for an offering of the "tarps off" sports crowd trend.
Postgame

In turn, GCU filled up the box score with a balanced offensive attack that swept Louisiana Monroe 25-16, 25-20, 25-21 to start the GCU Invitational, which continues with a 6 p.m. Saturday match against San Francisco and 2 p.m. Sunday match against Temple.

An hour before the match, GCU setters and defensive specialists took to the court for their pregame routine with a new background and periphery of people already filling seats.

"It's crazy to take it in," Lopes sophomore setter/opposite Bella Nunez said of the environment. "My first reaction is, 'OK, don't smile, don't smile.' But it just comes out. I have to smile because it's just so amazing. I love it."

And GCU (2-2) kept everyone smiling, taking control with sophomore middle blocker Aubrey Bellus scoring three of the Lopes' first six points in a five-kill first set on 1.000 hitting. The Lopes closed the set on a 10-4 run with six different players scoring the final seven points on a variety of kills, aces and blocks.

The nerves may have kept the Warhawks (2-3) close early, but Lopes hit .346 to pull away while only allowing seven kills in the set.
GCU block

"I don't want any of our players to feel bad for having nerves or excitement or butterflies," Potts said. "I think that's your body doing its job. It's preparing you to play. I never got to play in front of something like that. I think they do such a great job of managing their emotion and resetting between points.

"This is amazing. We want to be grateful for it, and we don't want to shy away from those things. This helps us in other venues and other arenas. Our sights are big. We want to play deep into the postseason. I don't know if we can replicate a crowd like that, but we can say, 'We have been here before.' "

Louisiana Monroe led 14-12 in the second half, when GCU against closed dominantly on a 13-6 run. Nunez sparked the flip, scoring the first four of six unanswered Lopes points with a pair of kills and a pair of blocks. Nunez, the El Paso, Texas, native coming off an All-Mountain West season, finished the match with nine kills, 15 assists, five digs, three blocks and a career high-tying four aces.
Aubrey Goodere

Goodere, the 6-foot-3 middle block from Buckeye, Arizona, recorded four of her seven kills in the final set and finished with a team-best six blocks.

"Kendra talks a lot about hunting, like hunting for the kill, hunting for the block, hunting for the dig," Goodere said. "Just going out and getting ready to hunt.

"Our gym is so competitive. Going against somebody who is super good in practice every day makes you better all the time."

GCU's eight aces matched last season's highest three-set total and topped each of its totals from last weekend. On the flip side, seeing some of the top service teams in the nation last week prepared the Lopes well for another three-day, three-match grind this weekend.

And with the newcomer duo of fifth-year opposite Starr Williams (eight kills) and senior outside hitter Katite Schulz (five kills), GCU had five players recording at least five kills with Nunez (.533) and Goodere (.455) being the most efficient. Junior setter Taylor Kubacak added 18 assists with Nunez's 15 in a diversified attack.

"Let's not wait for the perfect play to come to us," Potts said. "Let's create those things ourselves. I love seeing them doing it, and it's a lot of fun. I get a lot of joy seeing it."