Grand Canyon Grabs Two Wins Thursday

Thursday, January 15

Antelope Gymnasium

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

1-2

Coker

0-1

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Coker	7	17	14	0
Grand Canyon	25	25	25	3

Jon Schaefer had 18 kills in two matches Thursday and hit .515 (18-1-33) in two victories.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/15/2015 6:42:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Grand Canyon picked up a pair of 3-0 wins Thursday at Antelope Gymnasium, defeating Coker and Hope International to even its record at 2-2.

The Lopes take on Coker at 6 p.m. Friday.

"After two really tough opening losses, to go five sets two times and not win, it was good to finish two matches and be efficient in doing so," said GCU coach Jeremy Price.

Against Hope, GCU hit .444 as a team, committing only seven hitting errors for the match. The Lopes hit .600 in the first set with 14 kills on 20 swings. Ryan Mather had 12 kills and seven digs. He hit .308. Senior Jon Schaefer hit .429 with 10 kills. Gerrard Lipscombe and Christian Ward each had six kills. Ashton King added five.

Set scores for the win were, 25-17, 25-20, 25-20.

The Lopes won the block battle, 12-2. Schaefer, King and Ward were all part of four blocks. Mather had three blocks, including two solos. Michael Milstein dished out 35 assists, a pair of service aces, and two blocks, including one solo.

Freshman libero Sky Engleman had a match-best eight digs.

Against Coker, GCU won with set scores of 25-7, 25-17, 25-14. Mather had 11 kills and hit .350. Schaefer had eight kills, hit. 667 and added five service aces. In his first collegiate match, redshirt-freshman setter Puna Kaniho had 28 assists and two blocks, including one solo. The Lopes hit .339 as a team and held Coker to -.076. It was the first match of the season for the Cobras.

Lipscombe had a match-best seven digs. In his first match of the season, Keaton Berry had five kills, hit .571 and had two block assists.

"I felt we sided-out efficiently today for six sets," said Price. "We were around 78 percent and if you do that and serve and block like we did, you'll be tough to beat.

"I really like the job both setters did and our offensive numbers reflect their choices and location of sets."

Fans unable to attend Friday's match can follow action with links at www.gculopes.com.

GCU 3, CC 0
GCU 3, HIU 0