2023 Grand Canyon Antelopes men's volleyball team

2023 Grand Canyon Antelopes men's volleyball
NCAA Tournament, Quarterfinals
ConferenceMountain Pacific Sports Federation
Record22-8 (6–6 MPSF)
Head coach
Assistant coachMatt August (1st[1] season)
Home arenaGCU Arena
Seasons
← 2022
2024 →

The 2023 Grand Canyon Antelopes men's volleyball team represented Grand Canyon University in the 2023 NCAA Division I & II men's volleyball season. The 'Lopes, led by eighth year head coach Matt Werle, played their home games at GCU Arena.[2] The 'Lopes were members of the MPSF and were picked to finish fourth in the MPSF preseason poll.[3]

2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 UCLA ‍†‍‡‍y 12 – 0   1.000 31 – 2   .939
No. 8 BYU ‍‍‍ 8 – 4   .667 19 – 7   .731
No. 6 Grand Canyon ‍‍‍y 6 – 6   .500 22 – 8   .733
No. 9 Stanford ‍‍‍ 6 – 6   .500 15 – 13   .536
No. 10 Pepperdine ‍‍‍ 5 – 7   .417 16 – 14   .533
No. 12 USC ‍‍‍ 3 – 9   .250 10 – 16   .385
Concordia Irvine ‍‍‍ 2 – 10   .167 8 – 19   .296
† – Conference champion
‡ – 2023 MPSF Tournament champion

Roster

2023 Grand Canyon roster[4]
 

Defensive specialist/libero

  • 13 Cole Udall - Redshirt Senior
  • 15 Cooper Herndon - Redshirt Sophomore

Middle blockers

  • 3 Chibuike Obi - Redshirt Junior
  • 8 Cameron Thorne - Freshman
  • 9 Troy Culp - Senior
  • 14 Jacob Guerber - Redshirt Junior
  • 18 Matthew Meeker-Hackett - Redshirt Freshman
  • 21 Colin Lovejoy - Senior
  • 23 Rico Wardlow - Junior
  • 24 Nicholas Bentlage - Redshirt Freshman
  

Outside hitters

  • 1 Camden Gianni - Redshirt Junior
  • 2 Karter Rogers - Redshirt Sophomore
  • 5 Chase Gianni - Redshirt Freshman
  • 11 Christian Janke - Redshirt Senior
  • 12 Grayson Browning - Redshirt Senior
  • 16 Jackson Hickman - Redshirt Junior
  • 22 Jordan Lucas - Freshman
  • 25 Jacob Ceci - Freshman
  

Opposite hitters

  • 6 Jonah Gilbert - Redshirt Freshman
  • 20 Carson Brandt - Redshirt Junior

Setters

  • 4 Aidan Case- Redshirt Freshman
  • 7 Nicholas Slight - Redshirt Sophomore
  • 10 Jaxon Herr - Freshman
  

Schedule

TV/Internet Streaming information:

All home games were streamed on ESPN+. Most road games were also streamed by the schools streaming service. The conference tournament was streamed by FloVolleyball.
Date
time 		Opponent Rank
(tournament seed) 		Arena
city
(tournament) 		Television Score Attendance Record
(MPSF record)
1/6
6 p.m. 		Lindenwood #11 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–1
(25–21, 25–15, 35–37, 25–13) 		1,057 1–0
1/8
12 p.m. 		Lindenwood #11 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(25–21, 25–22, 25–21) 		418 2–0
1/13
5 p.m. 		@ George Mason #9 Recreation Athletic Complex
Fairfax, VA
(Patriot Invitational) 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(25–20, 25–18, 25–16) 		293 3–0
1/14
3 p.m. 		vs. #14 Ohio State #9 Recreation Athletic Complex
Fairfax, VA
(Patriot Invitational) 		W 3–2
(23-25, 25–18, 25–23, 18–25, 15–10) 		4-0
1/27
6 p.m. 		Erskine #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(26-24, 25–20, 25–17) 		563 5-0
1/29
2 p.m. 		UC San Diego #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(25-19, 25–19, 25–23) 		459 6-0
1/31
6 p.m. 		Lees-McRae #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(25-18, 25–17, 25–19) 		386 7-0
2/01
6 p.m. 		Lees-McRae #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–1
(23-25, 25–14, 25–17, 25–20) 		346 8-0
2/03
6 p.m. 		#7 UC Irvine #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–1
(25-19, 25–19, 12–25, 25–22) 		1,108 9-0
2/04
6 p.m. 		#7 UC Irvine #9 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–2
(25-21, 21–25, 19–25, 27–25, 15–13) 		704 10-0
2/10
6 p.m. 		Arizona Christian #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3–0
(25-12, 25–20, 25–21) 		548 11-0
2/15
8 p.m. 		@ #12 USC* #5 Galen Center
Los Angeles, CA 		P12, P12 LA W 3–1
(25-21, 25–22, 26–28, 25–22) 		400 12-0
(1-0)
2/17
8 p.m. 		@ #12 USC* #5 Galen Center
Los Angeles, CA 		P12+ USC W 3–1
(21-25, 25–22, 25–20, 25–22) 		401 13-0
(2-0)
2/22
8 p.m. 		@ #7 Pepperdine* #5 Firestone Fieldhouse
Malibu, CA 		WavesCast W 3–2
(25-18, 25–21, 23–25, 20–25, 16–14) 		437 14-0
(3-0)
2/24
1 p.m. 		@ #7 Pepperdine* #5 Firestone Fieldhouse
Malibu, CA 		WavesCast L 2-3
(25-20, 25–23, 17–25, 25–27, 9–15) 		317 14-1
(3-1)
3/03
6 p.m. 		#8 BYU* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(25-18, 25–22, 25–21) 		2,134 15-1
(4-1)
3/04
6 p.m. 		#8 BYU* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-2
(22-25, 25–17, 19–25, 25–17, 17–15) 		2,567 16-1
(5-1)
3/08
6 p.m. 		#11 Ball State #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(26-24, 25–23, 25–19) 		545 17-1
3/10
6 p.m. 		Olivet Nazarene #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(25-19, 25–14, 25–20) 		457 18-1
3/15
6 p.m. 		Princeton #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(25-22, 25–20, 25–22) 		514 19-1
3/17
4 p.m. 		Princeton #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(27-25, 25–22, 25–21) 		424 20-1
3/24
7 p.m. 		Concordia Irvine* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ L 2-3
(23-25, 23–25, 27–25, 25–12, 9–15) 		756 20-2
(5-2)
3/25
6 p.m. 		Concordia Irvine* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ W 3-0
(37-35, 25–22, 25–16) 		812 21-2
(6-2)
3/31
6 p.m. 		#2 UCLA* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ L 1-3
(31-29, 25–27, 20–25, 13–25) 		1,821 21-3
(6-3)
4/01
6 p.m. 		#2 UCLA* #5 GCU Arena
Phoenix, AZ 		ESPN+ L 0-3
(28-30, 21–25, 19–25) 		1,563 21-4
(6-4)
4/07
7 p.m. 		@ #9 Stanford* #6 Maples Pavilion
Stanford, CA 		P12+ STAN L 0-3
(17-25, 17–25, 20–25) 		612 21-5
(6-5)
4/08
6 p.m. 		@ #9 Stanford* #6 Maples Pavilion
Stanford, CA 		P12+ STAN L 2-3
(21-25, 26–24, 18–25, 25–22, 10–15) 		724 21-6
(6-6)
4/19
8 p.m. 		#9 Pepperdine
(5) 		#7
(4) 		Maples Pavilion
Stanford, CA
(MPSF Quarterfinal) 		FloVolleyball W 3-0
(25-22, 25–17, 25–20) 		705 22-6
4/19
4:30 p.m. 		#2 UCLA
(1) 		#7
(4) 		Maples Pavilion
Stanford, CA
(MPSF Semifinal) 		FloVolleyball L 0-3
(23-25, 19–25, 20–25) 		457 22-7
5/4
2 p.m. 		#4 Long Beach State #6 EagleBank Arena
Fairfax, VA
(NCAA Quarterfinal) 		ESPN+ L 1-3
(25–22, 17–25, 22–25, 23–25) 		22-8
*-Indicates conference match. (#)-Indicates tournament seeding.
Times listed are Time in Arizona.

Announcers for televised games

  • Lindenwood: Houston Boe & Braden Dohrmann
  • Lindenwood: Braden Dohrmann & Houston Boe
  • George Mason: Josh Yourish
  • Erskine:
  • UC San Diego:
  • Lees-McRae:
  • Lees-McRae:
  • UC Irvine:
  • UC Irvine:
  • Arizona Christian:
  • USC:
  • USC:
  • Pepperdine:
  • Pepperdine:
  • BYU:
  • BYU:
  • Ball State:
  • Olivet Nazarene:
  • Princeton:
  • Princeton:
  • Concordia Irvine:
  • Concordia Irvine:
  • UCLA:
  • UCLA:
  • Stanford:
  • Stanford:
  • MPSF Tournament:

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
AVCA Coaches1199995555555567766
Off the Block MediaNot released888554555555765

^The Media did not release a Pre-season or Week 1 poll.

References

See also: 2022–23 Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball team
  1. ^ "Volleyball Alumni Report: August named assistant with Lopes". Irvine Valley College Athletics. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  2. ^ "COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL: Werle, Grand Canyon left to wonder, 'what if?'". Meadville Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  3. ^ "UCLA picked to win 2023 MPSF championship in preseason poll". Off the Block. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  4. ^ "2023 Men's Volleyball Roster - The Official Site of Grand Canyon Athletics". Grand Canyon Athletics.