Grand Canyon Falls to Ball State 1-3

The Grand Canyon University men’s volleyball team fell 1-3 in tonight’s conference match against Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

The ‘Lopes came out in the first set with a fighting mentality, staying strong with the Cardinals. It was a close set with 13 tie scores and six lead changes before Grand Canyon would come out with a 25-23 win. Freshman Ben Ponnet (Merchtem, Belgium, OLVC) led the offense with four kills and libero Trent Bruns (Mission Viejo, CA , Mission Viejo) recorded four digs in the opening set.

GCU would drop the next three sets (18-25, 16-25, 21-25) to lose the match. The second and third sets were led and controlled by Ball State but the third was an even playing field. GCU hit .258 to the Cardinal’s .200 and had a 1.5 block advantage. However, it wasn’t enough to make up for Ball State’s strong defense who recorded 15 digs in the fourth set alone.

Ponnet ended the night with 11 kills, seven digs, two blocks, and one service ace. Middle blocker Taylor Galliano (Norco, CA , Foothill , Irvine Valley College) had 10 kills and no errors to hit .526 and contributed one service ace. Freshman setter Keith Smith (Whittier, CA, California High School) had 37 assists, seven digs, and three kills. Bruns finished the night with 12 digs and an .826 serve receive percentage.

The ‘Lopes will face the Ball State Cardinals again tomorrow at 7:00 pm (EST) in Muncie, Ind.