GCU Finishes Second In PacWest; Awaits Post Season Word Sunday Night

Saturday, November 12

Phoenix, AZ

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Dixie State

Junior setter Kristen Preach (4) celebrates a key point during Saturday's 3-1 win over Dixie State.

GCU Finishes Second In PacWest; Awaits Post Season Word Sunday Night

11/12/2011 8:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

End Regular Season With Record 14-Match Win Streak

By: Steve Heath

Box Score

With a 3-1 victory over Dixie State on Senior Night at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday, Grand Canyon (22-6, 12-4) finishes the regular season with a school-record 14-match winning streak and claimed second place – after being picked to finish sixth – in the Pacific West Conference.

GCU won by set scores of 25-27, 25-15, 25-21, 25-19.

The ’Lopes, seventh in the latest NCAA West Region rankings, will eagerly await Sunday’s 8 p.m. NCAA Division II Volleyball Selection Show on ncaa.com. The top eight in each region make it to the postseason. GCU is looking for its first region tournament bid since 1995.

“We did our job,” said head coach Kris Naber. “We can’t control what other people do, but we did as much as we could. We couldn’t have done any more.”

The 22 victories are the most since Naber’s club went 25-7 in 1999. It was the second 20-win season out of the last three. GCU went 21-8 in 2009.

GCU clinched it in the fourth set on the hitting of sophomore Caelen Hiller, who had 11 of her match-high 20 kills in the final game. A Hiller kill broke a 17-17 tie and she added five more to end the match.

“Our team showed a lot of composure (tonight) and (Caelen) was amazing in the fourth set,” added Naber.

GCU had a 16-8 first-set lead, but let it slip away.

After a definitive victory in the second set, the ’Lopes won a back-and-forth third game.

There were eight third-set ties, the last at 19-19. Junior setter Kristen Preach followed with two kills and GCU finished off the game with the final three points. Senior Stephanie McBride and Preach combined for a block and, off the bench, sophomore Kaitlynn Ausmus added two kills.

Grand Canyon honored its two seniors McBride and Brooke Blomenkamp prior to the match. McBride, the conference leader in blocks, had a match-high six block assists and 14 kills, second only to Hiller. She hit .353 on 34 attempts and just two errors. Blomenkamp had five kills, eight digs, four block assists and two service aces.

Preach finished with a season-high 53 assists and added 18 digs and five kills. Freshman libero Mackenzie Phelps had 23 digs. Junior Janae Giles had seven kills and 18 digs. Hiller chipped in 14 digs. Shelby Taylor had five kills.

GCU beat Dixie State 3-0 in St. George, Utah last Saturday.

“Dixie State played better (tonight) than it did last week,” said Naber. “They caught us off guard in the first set, but we were able to battle back.”