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No. 3/3 Grand Canyon bounced back – and did so emphatically thanks to opposite Camden Gianni.
Gianni finished with a match-high 11 kills and zero errors on a .688 attack percentage as Grand Canyon swept No. 9/9 Pepperdine 25-19, 25-16, 25-17 on Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona.
This performance comes after Grand Canyon lost two matches to No. 2/2 UCLA during the weekend to drop out of first-place in the MPSF. The Antelopes (21-4, 9-2 MPSF) entered this two-match series against the Waves having already locked up at least the No. 2 seed and needing two wins to tie the program’s single-season record for wins.
Gianni in the opening game had four kills, including having two kills as part of a 7-1 run midway through the game. The pin-hitter also led all players with five kills in the final game and had the match-winning kill to secure the sweep.
Setter Nicholas Slight guided the offense to out-hit Pepperdine .361 to .118 that was highlighted with Grand Canyon having no errors and hitting a match-best .600 in the second game.
Along with Gianni, outside attacker Jackson Hickman added 10 kills and outside attacker Jarrett Anderson had six kills on a .333 attack percentage.
Pepperdine (17-9, 5-6 MPSF) was limited to negative-.136 attack percentage in the final game.
Outside attacker Ryan Barnett in the loss had a team-high eight kills and hit .357. Barnett, though, was the only Pepperdine player to have more than both two kills and a .200 attack percentage.