A memorable season from an adverse situation.
When finally given the opportunity to compete after the COVID-19 setback, the Grand Canyon University Women's Club Volleyball team put in extra effort to set up games and competition wherever they could. The Lopes held a 4v4 league within their own practices on top of competing in individual matches against Arizona State University, Arizona Christian University, and Ottawa University. They also participated in the Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League and Arizona Region tournaments before closing out the season.
After their prior success of winning the 2019 National Club Volleyball Federation National Championship, many athletes were disappointed that they did not have the chance to defend their title.
"It's hard to reach that high of a level and claim that title, and then the next two years not have the opportunity," said Lopes' senior Lauren Damour. "You have to find a way to get past it, and that's what we were able to do this year – working with COVID regulations and somehow still remaining competitive in our program."
"All of us really tried to get involved as much as possible to make this year memorable – even though we weren't going to be able to go to nationals," added fellow GCU senior Tori Whitcomb. "We still wanted to improve ourselves and found ways within our own practices to try to be competitive with each other, like our 4v4 tournament."
The 4v4 league began the Lopes' season. The players competed against each other and continued to do so throughout the spring.
"The 4v4 league that we created was really good for the girls," said Lopes' Head Coach Kris Naber. "It took some time away from six-on-six training, but once it got towards the end, there was some really good play, and it was fun to watch it over the course of the five weeks."
Once they got the green light for competition, the Lopes went to work, reaching out to teams, setting up games, and entering local tournaments.
After starting off the season with a five-set loss to ACU, GCU turned things around by wracking up wins in an ongoing league against Ottawa University, as well as a win at the SCCVL Tournament. The Lopes also took advantage of the time created by the pandemic, creating their own teams for the Arizona Region tournament. The Lopes played up to four matches a day – something they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.
"Our top two teams have never had the opportunity to do that because we've been traveling in the spring, so I think it opened their eyes to local tournaments that are really good competition," said Naber. "It got them out and to see different people than just the people across the net that we see every day, and they represented GCU really well."
The added competitions and gameplay helped players stay engaged and motivated for next season.
"We have a really good group of young girls in the program, and hopefully, we did enough this year that we'll get the majority of them back next year," said Naber. "I'm looking forward to normalcy- whatever that may be and being able to go off campus and compete with the junior colleges again, but then also training for what we did a couple years ago: to go to the NCVF Nationals."
