The Lopes (9-8, 3-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) came out strong in the second straight match against UCLA, hitting .407 in the first set, but were unable to stop the Bruins (12-2, 4-0 MPSF) from hitting over .400 for the seventh time in the last eight matches.
In the first set, GCU and UCLA were nearly unstoppable as the Lopes collected 13 kills with just two errors while UCLA hit .630 with one attacking error in 27 attempts. The Lopes fell down 5-1 but cut the deficit to just two before the Bruins scored six of the next eight to lead 14-8. UCLA closed out the set, winning 11 of the final 16 points to tale the set 25-17.
GCU managed to hit just .059 in the second set and UCLA collected five blocks for a 25-20 win. Junior middle blocker Colin Lovejoy and redshirt junior outside hitter Christian Janke led the Lopes with four kills each while redshirt junior opposite Hugo Fischer had a set-high two service aces.
The third set was a back-and-forth contest that UCLA closed out late, 25-21. The Lopes and Bruins traded points to a 14-14 tie before a UCLA 4-0 run put it ahead for good. GCU answered with four straight points to cut the deficit at 23-21, but back-to-back kills from UCLA’s Ethan Champlin finished the match.
Janke led the Lopes with 12 kills on .371 hitting while redshirt sophomore outside hitter Camden Gianni saw his double-digit kill streak end at 18 matches, as he finished with nine. Lovejoy was back in the starting lineup and he was effective with five kills on seven attempts with two block assists.
The Lopes will take a break from MPSF play for the next four matches at home. They will kick off a homestand at GCU Arena next week with two matches against Harvard on March 12 and 13.
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University Athletics – Jerob Moon
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