Sand Volleyball Drops Two at USC

Thursday, March 14

Los Angeles, CA

3:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

CSU Bakersfield

3/14/2013 7:35:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

Grand Canyon continued its inaugural Collegiate Sand Volleyball season Thursday at Merle

Norman Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern California with a 4-1 loss to CSU Bakersfield and 5-0 setback against No. 3 USC.

GCU (0-3) won its first-ever match against CSUB when the No. 1 team of Kristen Johannsen and Mackenzie Phelps earned a 21-19, 21-19 victory over Debora Araujo and Yuan Fu. At No. 2, Sara Bowden and Shannon Dugan went three sets before falling 19-21, 22-20, 15-11.

Against USC, Bowden-Dugan went three sets before falling 19-21, 21-14, 15-10 to Katie Fuller and Stevi Robinson.

"They made a great transformation from last week's loss to Florida International to today," said GCU coach Kris Naber. "I'm really proud of how we responded. The girls competed and had the right mentality today.

"The positives out-weighed the negatives. We're a work in progress and we're going to have bumps in the road on the way, but we had fewer bumps than last week."

GCU will go to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., for dual matches and tournament play Friday through Sunday. They’ll have a dual against defending national champion Pepperdine, a rematch with CSU Bakersfield and take on another first-year program Nebraska, along with tournament play Friday and Saturday that will include Florida State.

CSU Bakersfield 4, Grand Canyon 1
1.) Kristen Johannsen-Mackenzie Phelps (GCU) def. Debora Araujo-Yuan Fu (CSUB) 21-19, 21-19
2.) Mariah Alvidrez-Shayna Guitare (CSUB) def. Sara Bowden-Shannon Dugan (GCU) 19-21, 22-20, 15-11
3.) Lisa Bartsch-Molly O’Hagan (CSUB) def. Kaitlynn Ausmus-Caelen Hiller (GCU) 21-18, 21-17
4.) Julia Bowen-Danika Youngblood (CSUB) def. Megan Davis-Chloe Jenkins (GCU) 21-13, 21-14
5.) Kelsee Sawyer-Star Tucker-Campbell (CSUB) def. Brittney Spackman-Courtney Spackman (GCU) 21-19, 21-13
Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2

USC 5, Grand Canyon 0
1.) Kirby Burnham-Bria Russ (USC) def. Kristen Johannsen-Mackenzie Phelps (GCU) 21-12, 21-19
2.) Katie Fuller-Stevi Robinson (USC) def. Sara Bowden-Shannon Dugan (GCU) 19-21, 21-14, 15-10
3.) Brooke Fournier-Natasa Siljkovic (USC) def. Kaitlynn Ausmus-Caelen Hiller (GCU) 21-13, 21-13
4.) Sydney Seau-Alexa Stonish (USC) def. Megan Davis-Chloe Jenkins (GCU) 21-13, 21-16
5.) Kati Duddridge-Sam Hirschmann (USC) def. Jessica Posse-Courtney Spackman (GCU) 21-7, 21-6
Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2