IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia men's volleyball battled out with No. 10 Grand Canyon in a three set battle. The Lopes challenged the Eagles by tying the score almost 60 times and having 18 lead changes throughout the night. GCU was able to break away from CUI in the end of each set. Grand Canyon were able sustain a little lead and close out each set winning by two points, 25-27, 30-32, and 25-27.

Raymond Barsemian led the Eagles with 20 kills and Jordan Hoppe had seven kills, four digs, and two aces. Jonathan Carlson was the other outside hitter tonight with six kills and seven digs. Middles Jesper Schut had five kills with a hitting percentage of .444 and two aces while Gil Herold had eight kills and no errors, with an impressive hitting percentage of .727. Sophomore setter McLain Mott dished out 40 assists and five digs. Liberos Blake Omartian and Addison Enriques collected 12 digs on the night.

"We're thankful to be playing and competing in our own gym," said head coach Shawn Patchell. " I thought we competed well at the service line."
 
The Eagles had a productive offense in the first set, hitting .400 off of 14 kills and just two errors. The score continued to toggle back-and-forth but a couple kills from the Lopes broke away with a lead and able to win by two points.

Concordia was able to push forward in the second set taking a close 10-8 lead over Grand Canyon. An attack error and ace by the green and gold brought GCU back to set point, 24-22. A kill from Barsemian and ace from Hoppe had the Eagles up by one. The set finished with a couple kills from GCU and a hitting error from CUI to finish 30-32.
 
The third set was no different from the others with the points going back-and-forth to each team. At the end, the Lopes were able to close out the match with a kill and hitting error from the Eagles. 
 
CUI will go on the road to finish the series in Phoenix, Ariz. against Grand Canyon. The first match is slated Friday, Feb. 12 at 12 p.m. and the following match is Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.