Antelopes Lose, Split Two-Match Series With Pacific

Saturday, March 16

Stockton, CA

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

13-10

Pacific

6-13

Grand Canyon

Pacific

Ben Ponnet had 19 kills in Saturday's 3-1 loss to Pacific.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

3/16/2013 10:05:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Grand Canyon won the first set, but was not able to get the next three, falling 3-1 to host Pacific in a non-conference road contest at Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif., Saturday.

The Antelopes (13-10) downed the Tigers Friday, picking up the program’s first-ever road win against a team from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, but weren’t able to get the sweep, dropping Saturday’s contest by set scores of 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-23.

Ben Ponnet had 19 kills to lead the Antelopes. Christian Ward had 12 and was part of four blocks. Ward hit .625 on 16 attempts with two errors. Erik Jansen came off the bench to get nine kills. Ryan Mather had eight and was part of three blocks. Jordon Tarantino had four block assists.

Trent Bruns led the defense with 10 digs. Setter Keith Smith had seven to go with 58 assists.

GCU hit .290 for the match, while Pacific hit .436. Each team had 62 kills. GCU had the match’s only two service aces and had more digs, 40-32.

“We had some guys play well in defeat,” said GCU coach Jeremy Price. “Our middles (Ward and Mather) were very good again, combining to hit over .500. Gerrard Lipscombe and Jansen both came off the bench and had a solid match.
“As a team we did not put enough pressure on them serving.”

GCU continues its road trip with a 7 p.m. contest at UC Santa Cruz, ranked no. 5 in NCAA Division III.

UOP 3, GCU 1