Grand Canyon snapped its six-match losing skid with a 3-0 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association victory over Quincy at Antelope Gymnasium Friday.
GCU (7-11, 1-6) beat Quincy (7-10, 0-7) by set scores of 25-22, 25-23, 25-15.
After two back-and-forth sets that saw the teams combine for 28 ties and 11 lead changes, GCU led from start to finish in the third.
"It was good to start our six-match homestand with a win," said GCU coach Jeremy Price. "I really like how we finished the match. Quincy was very scrappy in the first two sets and made us pay. We got on a roll in the third and
Ben Ponnet really heated up in the latter part of the match."
Ponnet finished with 20 kills and a .371 attack percentage. He had seven kills and hit .600 in the third. He had seven kills in the second set and hit .333.
GCU trailed in the middle of each of the first two sets, but rallied both times right after an Antelope timeout. Down 14-11 in the first, GCU scored four of the next five after the break and took the lead for good, 19-18, on a
Tanner Maxwell kill. Down 15-12 in the second, GCU responded after the TO by, again, scoring four of the next five points. It took the lead for good, 23-22, on a Ponnet kill.
Gerrard Lipscombe finished with 10 kills and seven digs. Maxwell had a team-high eight digs, to go with two service aces and four kills. Setter
Keith Smith had 35 assists and five digs. Ponnet also had a pair of aces and seven digs. Middle blocker
Keaton Berry had a team-high four block assists and four kills.
The teams meet again at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday at 6 p.m.
"We have to repeat it tomorrow night," added Price. "Quincy is a dangerous, scrappy team and we'll have to play from the first whistle."
GCU 3, QU 0