Grand Canyon lost 3-1 to Hope International in Fullerton, Calif. Saturday. It was the second meeting of the season between the teams. GCU won a 3-2 contest over HIU in January.
On Saturday, Grand Canyon (6-11) lost by set scores of 25-14, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22. Hope International improved to 10-2 on the season.
Ben Ponnet led GCU with 17 kills and a .333 (17-5-36) hitting percentage.
Gerrard Lipscombe had 11 kills and seven digs.
Robbie Brannick had seven kills, seven digs and three block assists.
Connor Dougherty had a team-best five block assists.
Tanner Maxwell had two service aces.
The Antelopes hit .367 in the second set and .385 in the third.
"I'm pretty disappointed on how the trip went," said GCU coach Jeremy Price, whose team went 0-2 including a 3-2 loss to UC San Diego on Friday. "We needed to beat these two teams."
Grand Canyon cut a 20-10 fourth-set deficit to one, but were unable to stave off the Royals when they got to match point.
The match ended a stretch of seven road contests in nine outings. GCU has six straight matches and 10 of the next 12 at Antelope Gymnasium. GCU will return to MIVA play with a two-match series Friday and Saturday with Quincy. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. each night. Fans unable to attend can follow matches with live links available at
www.gculopes.com.
HIU 3, GCU 1