No. 21 GCU Impressive in 3-1 win over Cal Baptist

Saturday, October 27

Antelope Gymnasium

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

California Baptist

Kristen Preach had 38 assists, 12 digs, three service aces and four block assists in Saturday's 3-1 win over Cal Baptist.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

10/27/2012 6:30:00 PM | Volleyball

GCU Picks Up Third 20-Win Season In Last Four

Grand Canyon (20-5, 8-5) secured its third 20-win campaign in the last four seasons with a 3-1 victory over California Baptist (16-6, 9-3) at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday.

The 21st-ranked Antelopes lost the first set 25-19, then came back in dominating fashion with consecutive wins of 25-4, 25-18 and 25-20.

In the second set, GCU hit .346 and held the Lancers to a -.345 attack percentage.

After trailing 23-12 in the first set, Grand Canyon won 25 of the next 28 points. It led as much as 18-1 in the second.

Coming off a tough five-set loss on the road to Point Loma Thursday, and suffering a five-set loss to California Baptist earlier in the season, coach Kris Naber was happy the way her team bounced back , especially getting down 1-0.

“The girls did a good job getting that common goal back, like we had early in the season,” she said. “Our bench was overflowing with support and the girls on the floor felt that from their teammates. Today was a prime example of how important it is to have good team chemistry.

“I wrote three words on the board in the locker room after the match: You Found It,” she added.

It was, again, a balanced GCU attack. Five players had between eight and 11 kills. Lanie Muys led with 11. Kaitlynn Ausmus had 10. Caelen Hiller and Shelby Taylor each had nine and Mackenzie Clark added eight. Taylor had a .471 hitting percentage, with just one error on 17 attacks.

Hiller and setter Kristen Preach were all over the stat sheet. Along with her nine kills, Hiller, who hit .259 (9-2-27), had five

assists, four service aces, 11 digs and two block assists. Preach had 38 assists and 12 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. She also had three service aces, four block assists and a pair of kills.

Mackenzie Phelps, the Pacific West Conference leader in digs, had a match-best 29 digs. Sara Bowden added eight and Janae Giles chipped in five.

Taylor had five block assists. Muys had one solo block and three block assists.

The Antelopes had nine service aces and only one service error. CBU had two aces and five errors. GCU hit .180 for the match, bouncing back from a -.027 in the first set. CBU hit .096. The Antelopes held CBU PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Ingrid Carmona, who was averaging 4.27 kills per set, to just 10 kills and helped force the Lancers’ standout to 10 attack errors for a .000 hitting percentage.

GCU finishes its home portion of the season next week with matches Thursday against Notre Dame de Namur and Saturday against Academy of Art. Both contests start at 6 p.m.

GCU 3, CBU 1