10-5-07

Grand Canyon rallies, but falls short to HPU

With its back against the wall and a daunting task ahead, Grand Canyon pushed Hawaii Pacific to the brink of near major collapse.

But in the end, Hawaii Pacific was nearly flawless when it mattered most in escaping a brilliant comeback bid by the host Antelopes Friday night. Hawaii Pacific won the PacWest volleyball match 30-24, 30-25, 28-30, 28-30, 15-10.

Grand Canyon’s Dana Edington had a season-high 26 kills. Her 26 putaways bettered her best offensive output from her freshman season by six. Edington has been on a hitting tear the past two weeks, posting 20-plus kills in four of the past five matches.

Of course, kills aside, it does no good if GCU (4-12, 1-4 PacWest) doesn’t win.

The Antelopes hit .201 as a team, while Hawaii Pacific (7-11, 3-4) connected on a .226 clip.

Antje Buskies had 24 kills and Kelly Balanay had 22 in a 71-putaway performance by the Sea Warriors.

Grand Canyon’s Megan Toth had 13 kills on a night some of the Lopes usual suspects were a little off. Audra Slemmer had 49 assists, and Ashley Bright had five kills, eight digs and five blocks.

Edington had 20 digs and three aces, while hitting .266.

Grand Canyon took a 22-20 lead in Game 4 on Toth’s kill. Buskies tied the match at 26 with a blast, but a pair of Bright blocks took the stuffing out of the Sea Warriors attack to tie the match at two games apiece.

Hawaii Pacific jumped out to a 10-4 decisive game lead, and watched as GCU closed to within 11-8, but Balanay banged home a winner to make it 14-9 en route to the win.

GCU will attempt to make Hawaii Pacific the fourth straight opponent it has rebounded after a loss to record a win on the second night the two teams squared off.

The two squads will meet again at 7 p.m. Saturday in Antelope Gym.

Box Score