Grand Canyon Gets Weekend Sweep of NJIT

Saturday, March 29

Antelope Gymnasium

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-13

NJIT

8-12

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
NJIT	22	25	16	16	1
Grand Canyon	25	21	25	25	3

GCU libero Jared Morrison had 13 digs, and 32 for the weekend, in a 3-1 victory over NJIT Saturday.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

3/29/2014 7:41:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Grand Canyon finished off a non-conference weekend sweep of NJIT with a 3-1 victory at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday.

GCU (14-13) won by set scores of 25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16. The Antelopes beat the Highlanders 3-2 on Friday.

"I thought we played really well the last two sets," said GCU coach Jeremy Price. "We played the last two tonight like the three we won (Friday)."

Senior middle blocker Connor Dougherty topped off a great weekend with 15 kills and a .652 attack percentage. He had 23 attempts without an error. He added two block assists. In Friday's win, Dougherty had 15 kills and hit .500 (15-3-24) to go with nine block assists.

The Antelopes were strong on both sides. Offensively, they hit .285 with a match-best .481 average in the fourth set and had seven service aces. Defensively, the Antelopes led in blocks (8.5-6) and had four players with double figure digs.

Libero Jared Morrison and outside hitter Ben Ponnet each had 13. Setter Keith Smith and outside hitter Tanner Maxwell each had 10. Andrew Muys was close behind with seven. GCU out-dug NJIT 58-48.

"When you have four players in double figures it shows a quality team defensive effort," added Price.

Back in the lineup with the first unit, sophomore middle blocker Christian Ward had 10 kills and a match-best six block assists. Ponnet had 13 kills for a double-double performance. Smith did, as well, with 49 assists.

"We knew in March we had eight of 10 at home and we won all eight," added Price. "We have to continue our strong play at home against a strong Ball State team (next week)."

GCU hosts BSU for a pair of 6 p.m. starts next Friday and Saturday. They are the final two home matches of the regular season. Saturday will be Senior Night as the Antelopes send off its largest senior class in the program's six-year history. Ponnet, Smith, Dougherty, Robbie Brannick, Ben Hunt and Erik Jansen will be recognized for their contributions to the program.

GCU 3, NJIT 1