Grand Canyon Wins In Three At McKendree

Saturday, February 14

Lebanon, IL

6:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

7-4, 2-2MIVA

McKendree

4-10, 0-7MIVA

Grand Canyon

McKendree

Jon Schaefer had 12 kills, hit .348 and added five digs and five blocks in Saturday's win at McKendree.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/14/2015 8:43:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Grand Canyon swept its Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association two-match series with McKendree with a 3-0 victory at Statham Center in Lebanon, Ill., Saturday.
The Lopes (7-4, 2-2) won by set scores of 25-17, 32-30 and 25-19. GCU defeated McKendree (4-10, 0-7), 3-1 on Friday.

Three Lopes had double figures in kills with Gerrard Lipscombe leading the way with 15. Jon Schaefer and Shalev Saada had 12 and 11, respectively. GCU hit .422 as a team, out-blocked the Bearcats 11-2 and led in service aces 5-1.

"We served really well and that was the key," said GCU coach Jeremy Price. "Gerrard Lipscombe served well, passed well and was pretty much the man of the match. All three of our hitters played well. It was led by Gerrard, but Shalev and Jon played extremely well."

Lipscombe hit .483 for the match. Schaefer and Saada each hit .348. Senior middle Keaton Berry had five kills and hit .714 to go with four block assists. Schaefer and Christian Ward led in total blocks with five each. Freshman setter Puna Kaniho had 40 assists. Saada and libero Kyle Miller led in digs with six apiece.

The Lopes led most of the way, but had their biggest challenge in the second set. Down by four as late as 20-16, GCU tied the second set at 23-23 on a combo block from Berry and Schaefer. The Lopes took a 24-23 lead on a Bearcats attack error, but the hosts thwarted seven set points before the Lopes could close out. Tied at 30-30, McKendree had back-to-back attack errors to end the set. Lipscombe had eight kills and a service ace in the set. There were 15 ties and four lead changes in the set.

Grand Canyon hit .565 in the first set with 16 kills. Saada led the way with five. Schaefer had four and Lipscombe added three. Ward was part of all three of GCU's blocks. The Bearcats hit just .207.

"When you hit over .400 and sideout at 79 percent, it really shows how well we passed," said Price. "(Puna Kaniho) did an outstanding job running the offense. We blocked well and a lot of that had to do with how well we served."

GCU continues MIVA play next weekend with matches at Quincy Friday and Saturday. Both matches start at 6 p.m. (Arizona Time). Fans can follow live with links available at www.gculopes.com.

GCU 3, MU 0