The No. 9 Grand Canyon men’s volleyball team swept No. 1 BYU in its home opener Thursday night, recording the second win in GCU Athletics history against a No. 1 ranked team and setting an NCAA record in a pivotal 45-43 second set.
The Lopes (2-3, 2-3 MSPF) won 25-22, 45-43, 25-10 against the Cougars (5-2, 5-2 MSPF) at GCU Arena with the second set breaking the NCAA men’s volleyball record for the highest-scoring set. Freshman outside hitter Camden Gianni led the Lopes with 19 kills, five digs, four blocks and an ace to finish with 23.5 points and a .567 hitting percentage. “We played like a team tonight,” Gianni said. “Everyone did a great job with whatever roles each individual took. With what Christian Janke brought to the service line, defensively, and what he was able to do to close out the second set was critical. Heath Hughes did an excellent job distributing the offense and our middles executed flawlessly. Hugo Fischer also did a great job pushing the tempo opposite to me and Christian.
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“It was a great team win, but we still have a lot of the season left to go. We still need to stay focused and not let this win distract us from anything.” The Lopes took a 5-3 lead in the first set with Gianni picking up three kills. BYU took back the lead, but the Lopes were unfazed as they went on a three-point run with a kill from senior middle Ian McLain and a block and kill from Gianni to go up 12-11. McLain had another bigtime play for the Lopes, serving an ace for a 16-14 lead. A double block by Hughes and Thompson and a kill followed by a block from Gianni gave the Lopes a three-point run to lead 20-17.
Gianni served an ace on set point to defeat the Cougars 25-22. Gianni finished the first set with 10 of the Lopes’ 15 kills, two blocks, a dig and an ace. “I’m excited,” GCU head coach Matt Werle said. “I’m very proud of how we responded to a couple road losses to them, which I think we gave away in the second set last Saturday night. I thought we responded well. We executed the scouting report very well tonight.” The Lopes earned a spot in the NCAA record books by winning the highest-scoring set in men’s volleyball history, 45-43 in the second set. The Lopes hopped out to a 5-0 lead with an ace from Janke, a kill from Hughes and a double block by Hughes and Thompson. BYU battled to get in the set, but a kill from Janke kept the Lopes ahead 10-5. BYU was forced to call a timeout after back-to-back kills from Janke…
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