Back in the win column.

The Grand Canyon University Men's Bowling Varsity team secured its first tournament win of the year at the Oak Tree Lanes Open, and quickly followed it up with a third-place finish at the Floria Financial Services Open the next day. Not to be left out, the Lopes' JV1 squad secured first place in their division at both tournaments, which were held in Diamond Bar, California.

Oak Tree Lanes Open

Scoring 3946 through the first four team games of the tournament, the Lopes led the varsity division by 47 pins and never looked back, outpacing the field by another 42 pins in the ensuing 12 Baker games with a final pinfall of 6366.

The GCU JV1 team similarly led their division wire-to-wire, though a strong push from San Jose State University's JV1 squad in the Baker games trimmed the margin of victory to just 82 pins.

"[The coaching staff] was impressed with all three of our squads at Oak Tree," said GCU Head Coach Ben Canfield. "The lane conditions were pretty challenging, so it was encouraging to see the guys adjust and sweep the tournament."

GCU junior Jovan Mercado paved the way for the varsity Lopes with a tournament-leading 233-game average, while David Wisely and Kamryn Wyman's 211.5 and 219.5 game averages headlined the GCU JV1 and JV2 teams, respectively.

Floria Financial Services Open

The Floria Financial Services Open featured both a different format and result for the Lopes' varsity team, whose 5423 total pins after six team games wasn't enough to catch SJSU's 5573 or the Fresno State University's 5482.

"The varsity guys struggled a bit in the middle part of the tournament," said Canfield. "A late push wasn't enough to match the firepower of San Jose or Fresno State."

The JV2 squad, led by Karsten Poyser's 197.6 game average, made up nearly 300 pins over the last two games to provide a high-stakes intrasquad battle for the JV division. Ultimately, it was GCU JV1 that got the win by 50 pins with their final score of 5270.

"It's always good to see the JV guys have a really competitive weekend," said Canfield. "JV1 rolled through the competition, but JV2 kept at it and nearly caught them. I'm very proud of the efforts of all those guys."

Now the Lopes will depart for Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Glenn Carlson Las Vegas Invitational and the Collegiate Shoot-Out on December 18, 19 and 20.