Using the momentum and familiarity of the surroundings created by a strong showing the weekend before, the Grand Canyon University Men's Club Volleyball team tamed the field at the Momentous Sports Center in Irvine, California, winning six of eight matches at the Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League North and South Crossover Division Tournaments this past weekend. The six wins tied for the second-most victories of any squad in the ten-team field (bested only by San Diego State University's 8-1 record), and was the most victories in a single regular season weekend for the program since 2019.
 
"SDSU only lost once, but all their wins wound up being three sets, so we know that we have the tools to get past them if we stay focused," said Lopes' middle blocker Liam Peterson. "Every time we won, we did it in two. When we lost, we lost in three. When we're doing that, we know we're pretty good. We beat both (University of Southern California and UC San Diego) in two. We didn't know at the time that those schools were really good, but we have realized that we've really progressed."
 
The two-day event was set up as two tournaments with no actual champion, and the Lopes played four matches each day. At the North Crossover Division Tournament Saturday, GCU began the day with a two-set win over a scrappy University of California Riverside team before suffering their only loss of the day, losing the first set to Cal-State Northridge, then winning Set 2 before the Matadors prevailed in the final set, 15-13. The Lopes took the wakeup call to heart, breezing through their final two matches of the afternoon with straight-set victories over USC (who also posted six wins over the two days) and UC Santa Barbara.
 
Sunday's South Division Crossover Tournament played out nearly the same way for the Lopes, beginning with a sweep of the hosts from UC Irvine. The Lopes then dominated SDSU, 25-15, in Set 1 before watching the Aztecs gut out 26-24 and 15-13 wins in the final two sets. The Lopes paid that lesson forward in the next match, conceding the first set to UCLA before taking the last two, going extras in the final set to win, 16-14. GCU rounded out the tournament with a dominant 25-19, 25-17 win over UCSD, solidifying its 2^nd-place standing in the conference going forward.
 
"It rejuvenates our team because we know we can win a conference championship," said Peterson. "It was a fantastic weekend, and we love where we're at, but now we get back to work. We know we can win when we go back out there in April, but have to take care of business first in two weeks."
 
The last tuneup before the SCCVL Conference Championships in April happens February 23 in Tempe at the SCCVL Central Division Tournament. The Lopes will square off against their in-state rivals, Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, as well as Utah Valley University, all within a four-hour period that morning.