Antelopes Pick Up First Win at NJIT

Friday, January 11

Newark, NJ

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

1-2

NJIT

0-1

Grand Canyon

NJIT

1/11/2013 3:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Led by four attackers with double-digit kills, Grand Canyon picked up its first victory of the season,

downing host NJIT 3-1 Friday.

The Antelopes (1-2) won by set scores of 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21.

Sophomore middle Ryan Matherhad a career-high 19 kills and hit .414 on 29 attempts. Junior outside Ben Ponnet, a preseason First Team All-MIVA selection had a double-double with 15 kills (.324) and 12 digs. Senior outside Jordon Tarantino had 15 kills on 42 swings (.262) and sophomore middle Keaton Berry had his first career double-figure kill match with 10 (.400) on 20 attempts and had a career-best six blocks.

“We showed really good balance,” said GCU coach Jeremy Price, commending setter Keith Smith for his distribution. Smith finished with 51 assists.

Price was happy to see Ponnet back in form after having a couple tough matches. In the final two sets of Friday’s match, the junior from Belgium hit .476 with 12 kills and only two errors on 21 tries. He had eight kills on 10 attempts in the fourth set.

“He had struggled for two and half matches and really looked good the last half (against NJIT),” said Price. “He’s an elite player and he came out and played like he’s capable of.”

GCU hit .273 as a team and had 62 kills to NJIT’s 46. GCU hit .448 in the fourth set, getting a

match-high 18 kills. The Antelopes hit .394 in the opening set.

While Ponnet picked up the pace late, Tarantino got GCU off to a good start. He had eight kills on 17 (.471) attempts, without an error for the first two games.

The middles were strong throughout. Mather opened with seven first-set kills. Berry had eight of his 10 kills – four each – in the middle two sets. Berry had three block assists in each of the first two sets.

Mather hit .667 (7-1-9) in the first and added four, three and five kills, respectively, in the next three sets.

Senior libero Trent Bruns had a season-high 15 digs. Junior outside Ben Hunt chipped in 11 digs. Ponnet added five blocks.
Price went with his starters most of the way, but did get help off the bench with the serving of sophomore Jared Goldberg, who had one service ace and five points off his serve. Goldberg entered the second set with the match tied, 17-17. The ‘Lopes scored two straight; the second on Goldberg’s ace.

The Antelopes wrap up their road trip with a 2 p.m. match at Sacred Heart Saturday. Fans can follow all the live action with links available at www.GCULopes.com.

GCU 3, NJIT 1