Antelopes Drop 3-1 Match to Saint Francis

Saturday, April 6

Antelope Gym

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-14

St. Francis (PA)

10-15

Saint Francis

Grand Canyon

Jordon Tarantino had 23 kills in Saturday's non-conference match with Saint Francis.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

4/6/2013 9:01:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Jordon Tarantino was just two kills shy of his school record, but the senior’s 23-kill performance wasn’t quite enough in GCU’s 3-1 loss to Saint Francis (PA) Saturday at Antelope Gymnasium.

GCU lost by set scores of 17-25, 25-21, 26-24, 29-27 to fall to 14-14 on the season.

Tarantino hit .429 for the match getting his 23 on 42 attempts with only five errors. He had nine in the third set.

“Jordon Tarantino’s performance was one of the best of his career and certainly best of this season,” said GCU coach Jeremy Price. “We played better tonight than we did (in a 3-2 loss to Saint Francis) Friday, but not good enough on key points.”

Ben Ponnet added 17 kills. Gerrard Lipscombe had a match-best 10 digs to go with seven kills and two service aces. Christian Ward had five block assists and five kills. Trent Bruns added nine digs and setter Keith Smith had 52 assists. Ponnet also had two service aces.

GCU hit for a better percentage (.311-.292), had more kills (62-51), aces (6-4) and digs (34-26). Saint Francis led in blocks (15-9.5).

“We played well 80 percent of the time, but we didn’t play well after (the set got to) 20,” added Price. “If you let a battle-tested team like Saint Francis around they’ll take advantage of it. They scored at the right time and we did not.”

In just over one set of play, middle blocker Connor Dougherty added three kills on three attempts with a service ace.

GCU finishes off the regular season next week with matches Thursday and Saturday against Lindenwood. Saturday’s match will be Senior Night. GCU will honor seniors Tarantino, Bruns and redshirt sophomore Jared Goldberg, who is graduating in three years.

SFU 3, GCU 1