Grand Canyon men's volleyball team prepares for NCAA Tournament, ready for national stage

Grand Canyon University's men's volleyball team tasted its first NCAA Tournament appearance last year. Now, the Lopes are ready to put themselves on the national map and make a run to a championship.

After last week's five-set win over No. 1 UCLA, the second time GCU has beaten the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in four years (they beat No. 1 BYU in 2021), the Lopes head to Long Beach, California, as the No. 3 seed, opening against Ohio State at 7:30 p.m., on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Only eight teams go to nationals in Division I.

The semifinals are May 2 and the national championship on May 4.

Matt Werle, who has built GCU to national prominence in men's volleyball, was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Foundation Coach of the Year, the first time he's won that award, coming after the school's first MPSF championship last week at the expense of favored UCLA.

In the fifth set, the Lopes broke a 5-5 tie as Camden Gianni got a kill and a service ace to fuel a 10-5 run. Middle blocker Cameron Thorne had four points with two blocks and two kills, including the match-point kill from a feed by Nicholas Slight.

They're enjoying every moment of this ride, which will be a much shorter travel, this time by bus, after flying across the country last year for the NCAA Tournament.

"We have to give ourselves opportunities to have fun," Werle said. "When we're able to apply service pressure and go block balls, bounce some balls and get excited, that's when we're at our best. But if we start losing momentum with errors and dumb plays, that's when we struggle and try to force things that are outside of us."

GCU has won a program-record 25 matches this season and has the nation's second-best winning percentage with a record of 25-4. More impressive, they are 10-4 against Top-10 teams this year.

Last year, they went 22-8 and lost to Long Beach State in four sets in the NCAA quarterfinals in Virginia.

GCU at one point this season climbed to No. 1 in the nation for the first time in program history. The way GCU took care of UCLA was jarring to the Bruins faithful.

"The amount of people running their mouths at the UCLA match to our parents got a little out of hand," Werle said. "But, yeah, people don't want to see us succeed, except for some of those underdog programs across the country. They're excited for us."

GCU doesn't feel like an underdog.

The Lopes began making big statements last year, when they beat Ohio State in a neutral-site match, 3-2, behind Jackson Hickman, a former Anthem Boulder Creek star, who had 16 kills in that match.

Most of those same Ohio State players returned this year.

"They're a program that we're very familiar with," Werle said. "They're a team that we're not so familiar with. They're a team that we saw early in the year last year. We know they're a good team. We know it's going to be a dog fight for sure."

Ohio State has a big lefty opposite, something GCU hasn't seen much of this year. But the Buckeyes play a brand similar to GCU.

Last week, with the momentum building, beating UCLA for the second time in program history, the timing couldn't be better.

"I think getting through them, and that's always been a program that has taken it to us, and they have some All-Americans who are arguable Player of the Year candidates," Werle said.

Werle made a lineup switch about a month ago moving Gianni from opposite to outside hitter, and moved in Jarrett Anderson, a transfer, who was a former Division III Player of the Year.

GCU Digest: WAC Freshman of the Year Makaih Williams commits to Lopes

"Those two have been rock steady," Werle said. "But ultimately to win a championship like that, all of our guys were very good. The service pressure we applied in that championship match (against UCLA), I think we had 10 aces, 13 errors, and UCLA I think had 24 service errors. Out guys kept applying, applying and applying. We went in there with nothing to lose. They really played loose and had a good time."

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Grand Canyon's men's volleyball team prepares for NCAA Tournament