Antelopes win PacWest opener; beat DSC 3-1

Grand Canyon University's Pacific West Conference season began and ended with a dominating performance.

There was a come-from-behind victory in the middle, too.

GCU (6-7, 1-0) defeated Dixie State College 3-1 at Antelope Gymnasium Friday. The Antelopes had little problem in a 25-10 first-set victory, then lost 21-25, rallied from a late third-set deficit to win 25-23 and finished off the visitors 25-16.

"It was absolutely crucial," said GCU junior Heather Baron (pictured, right) on winning the PacWest opener. "Last year we were last in the conference. We've got a lot of new girls and we want to prove we can win and we're ready to win."

Baron (Lancaster,CA/Saguaro HS/Scottsdale CC) helped rally the team with her third-set defense. She finished the game with a season-high 23 digs and added 11 kills.

Grand Canyon trailed 22-18, when Baron's digging helped lead to some terminating attacks from sophomore Megan Toth (Phoenix/Arcadia) and senior Shauna Niemann (Tempe, AZ/Corona del Sol/Scottsdale CC). Baron and freshman defensive specialist Lisa Ramirez (Peoria, AZ/Peoria HS) also had kills on the team's 7-1 run.

"That was the turning point when Heather Baron turned it on defensively," said GCU coach Kris Naber. "She took the lead and took everyone on her back until they got there, too."

It was all GCU the rest of the way.

"We got united to come back and beat them. We had more passion," said Niemann (pictured, left), who led the Antelopes with 13 kills and a .289 hitting percentage.

Toth had 12 kills and and 10 digs. Freshman libero Laurann Durbin (Phoenix/Sunnyslope) had 19 digs. Ramirez added 10 and three service aces.

Sophomore Katie Meyers (Phoenix/Sunnyslope) had 49 assists.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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