GCU continues winning ways

Friday, October 8

GCU

6:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Chaminade University

Tommyka Henry and Shelby Taylor

10/8/2010 8:17:01 PM | Volleyball

'Lopes win 12th straight at home, fourth straight in PacWest

By: Steve Heath

Rallying from behind in each set, Grand Canyon extended its conference and home win streaks with a 3-0 victory over Chaminade Friday.

GCU (8-10, 4-3) has won four straight Pacific West Conference matches and 12 in a row at Antelope Gymnasium. The ‘Lopes are 6-0 at home this season and won their final six in 2009.

Friday’s set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 25-16.

The teams play against 6 p.m. Saturday at Antelope Gymnasium.

“(Chaminade) will make us work hard, so we’ll have to work even harder Saturday,” said GCU sophomore middle hitter Shelby Taylor (Phoenix, AZ, Christian), who had a team-best 11 kills and .500 attack percentage.

Grand Canyon faced its largest deficit in the third set. Down 9-3, the Antelopes responded from a timeout with five straight points, two coming on Taylor kills, two others on Chaminade attack errors and another from an attack by frosh outside hitter Kaitlynn Ausmus (Glendale, AZ, Deer Valley).

After a Chaminade timeout, GCU scored three more points. Taylor, Ausmus and sophomore setter Kristen Preach (Phoenix, AZ, Xavier Prep) each had kills.

“The first thing I told them after the match was how proud I was of them,” said GCU coach Kris Naber, on her team’s comeback abilities.

Naber praised the play of her middle hitters Taylor and senior Tommyka Henry (Phoenix, AZ, Alhambra, Mesa Community College), who finished the match with a team-best three block assists and, along with Taylor, had the club’s only solo blocks. Henry also added five kills.

“They battled at the net,” said Naber. “They dominated on offense and took the pressure off our outsides.”

Grand Canyon rallied from a 20-17 deficit to win the second set. After a Chaminade service ace, GCU scored the next five points. Taylor had back-to-back kills then assisted Preach on a block. A kill from Ausmus gave the ‘Lopes the lead and it stretched to two on a service ace from Brooke Blomenkamp (Gering, NE, Gering, Western Nebraska CC). Chaminade tied the match at 22, but Grand Canyon scored the final three points. Blomenkamp gave the home team the lead and Taylor wrapped it up with two straight kills.

In the first set and trailing 15-12, GCU went on a 5-0 run. An untouched ace from libero Laurann Durbin (Phoenix, AZ, Sunnyslope) tied the match at 15-15. It followed consecutive kills from Megan Toth (Phoenix, AZ, Arcadia) and Blomenkamp. Another Blomenkamp kill gave the ‘Lopes the lead for good and Henry wrapped up the set with a kill. Grand Canyon held Chaminade to a .077 attack percentage and Erica Ehlo (Spokane, WA, Lewis and Clark) had 11 digs. Blomenkamp had five kills.

For the match, Blomenkamp added 10 kills. Ausmus had eight. Preach had 37 assists, including 13 in the final set. Durbin had 21 digs and Ehlo had 20.

“We don’t like to lose,” added Taylor. “When we are down we fight even harder just like we do in practice.”

Box Score