GCU Defeated In Four By Defending Champs

Saturday, October 1

Phoenix, AZ

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

BYU-Hawai'i

Stephanie McBride had seven kills, a .316 attack percentage and a match-best seven blocks against BYU-Hawai'i Saturday.

10/1/2011 8:54:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Steve Heath

Box Score

Grand Canyon (8-6, 2-4) lost 3-1 to BYU-Hawai’i (8-3, 5-1) in a Pacific West Conference volleyball match at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday.
The ’Lopes lost by set scores of 25-13, 18-25, 25-17, 25-17.

Senior middle hitter Stephanie McBride had seven kills, a .316 hitting percentage and a match-best seven total blocks. Junior outside hitter Janae Giles had a team-best nine kills. Junior setter Kristen Preach had 31 assists, 10 digs and three block assists. Freshman libero Mackenzie Phelps had 21 digs, 11 in the fourth set.

Sophomore Megan Davis added 18 digs.

“We got beat by a great team,” said GCU head coach Kris Naber. “We made adjustments and we battled back, but we still need to make improvements.”

The second set was GCU’s best. Giles had five kills on 11 attempts with only one error. The ’Lopes took a 9-4 lead, but the Seasiders came back and took a 16-15 advantage. Giles tied it with a kill to start a 9-0 run. Giles finished off three points in the run. McBride added a kill to force set point. Preach and McBride combined on a block as did Giles, Preach and McBride on another.

Grand Canyon heads to the road for five straight matches in the Bay Area, leading off with an Oct. 8 contest at Dominican.

Though her team dropped both matches against BYU-Hawai’i -- the defending PacWest champs and the preseason favorites -- Naber feels good about her club’s progress.

“We’re a better team than we were last season and we’re better than we were two weeks ago,” she said.

GCU’s next home matches are Oct. 17-18 against Chaminade. Though the Silverswords are a conference opponent, only the Oct. 17 match will count in the conference standings.