Antelopes pick up second straight win; sweep Johnson & Wales, 3-0

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Grand Canyon went 2-0 in its first day of the Daytona 100 and picked up its second win of the season over Johnson and Wales University Friday at Ocean Center.

GCU (3-8) beat Limestone 3-1 earlier in the day and finished off a successful Friday with a 3-0 win over JWU. It was the Antelopes second win in three meetings against the Wildcats.

Grand Canyon won by set scores of 30-23, 30-21, 30-16.

GCU will play Lees-McRae (11:30 a.m.) and Limestone (4 p.m.) Saturday.

Sophomore Taylor Griffin (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge) had match-highs in service aces (six) and digs (nine).

Sophomore Nick Jensen (Herning, Denmark/Ikast Gymnasium/NJIT) had a team-high seven block assists to go with six kills and a .500 attack percentage. He also had two service aces. Sophomore Brock Hutchins (Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert/Hawai'i) had a match-best 15 kills to go with a solo block and five block assists. Freshman Robbie Brannick (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) had 10 kills, a .294 attack average and six digs. Freshman libero Trent Bruns (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) added eight digs and freshman setter Brad Moore (Orange, Calif./Lutheran) had 35 assists.

Frosh middle hitter Chris Lockwood (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood) chipped in five kills.

In the first set, GCU broke away from a 7-7 tie with three straight points. Griffin and Hutchins each had kills and Jensen and Brannick combined for a block. It was 12-12 in the second when the Antelopes turned up the pressure with an 11-2 run, wrapped up by a pair of successful attacks from Hutchins. GCU scored the first seven points of the third set and never looked back.