The fourth time was almost the charm.
 
In its fourth appearance in the history of the program at the National Club Volleyball Federation National Championships, the Grand Canyon University Men's Club Volleyball team gave a performance like none of its previous teams, reaching the Gold Bracket Semifinals before falling to the University of Wisconsin in three sets, 23-25, 25-19, 12-15. Overall, the Lopes won five of nine matches at the tournament – which was held at the Phoenix Convention Center downtown – and came three points away from stopping the Badgers from winning their third national title in the last four years. In addition, three members of the team earned NCVF All-Tournament Team honors, with Lopes' setter Grant Hughes earning 1^st Team accolades, opposite Tyler Pease being named to the 2^nd Team and Justus Clark named Honorable Mention. The 3^rd-place showing is easily the highest finish in the team's nine-year history.
 
Just to get to the Gold Bracket, the Lopes had to work a harder route than most, since six of their nine best-of-3 matches in the tournament went the full three sets. That included both of their two pool-play losses to the University of Texas and the University of Notre Dame. A two-game sweep of Rutgers University-New Brunswick put the Lopes in the crossover round against the team that knocked off the Lopes in the championship match of the SCCVL MLK Invite Silver Bracket back in late January, Utah Valley University's 'A' team. Like in January, the teams went down to the wire in Set 3, but this time, the Lopes exacted revenge by outlasting the Wolverines, 15-12.


"Our Day 1 pool was a gauntlet," said Lopes' Head Coach Eric Palmer. "Losing close in three sets to both Notre Dame & Texas - who both reached the Gold Bracket - and coming back from being down, 12-3, in the second set to beat Rutgers was the resiliency we needed to stay in the hunt. We knew you didn't have to win them all, we just needed to win when it counted the most."
 
The victory sent them to Power Pools Championship Pool play where the Lopes swept Baylor University, then lost a grueling three-setter to Virginia Tech University, but both GCU and the Hokies qualified for the Gold Bracket Saturday.
 
The Lopes were allowed to sleep in a bit before their first noontime Gold Bracket match, and promptly lost the first set of the match to Liberty University, but didn't lose another set for the next five hours. They powered back against the Flames to win in three, 21-25, 25-15, 15-13, then easily handled UC Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals, 25-12, 25-20. Wisconsin outlasted the Lopes in the first semifinal set, 25-23, but the Lopes powered back for a 25-19 win in Set 2, setting the stage for a mammoth rubber match where the Lopes fell just short, 15-12.
 
"At 12-12 in set 3, it was anybody's match three points from the title," said Palmer. "Wisconsin used their experience to finish the match. We played our best volleyball at the end of the season when it counted the most, and I am extremely proud of our guys. This was an entire team effort to raise the bar to a new standard of excellence."
 
The Santa Barbara win in the quarters was the Lopes' 21^st win of the season, setting a new high-water mark for wins in a single season (previous high was 20 wins two years ago). The Lopes finish the 2024-25 campaign with a 21-11 overall mark as well as a 9-3 record in Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League play.