Sept. 17, 2002

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to pull out a 3-2 victory over James Madison Tuesday night in CAA action at John Linn Gymnasium. Game scores were 27-30, 28-30, 30-19, 30-15, 21-19.

With the win, the Patriots improve to 3-0 in the CAA and 7-3 overall, while the Dukes hit 5-6 overall and 2-1 in the league.

Aline Pereira (Sao Paolo, Brazil), the reigning CAA player of the week, notched a season-high 36 kills for Mason and clocked in with a .419 attack percentage. As a team, George Mason out-hit James Madison .260 to .165.

Most of Pereira's sets came from Jesica Umansky (Buenos Aires, Argentina), who posted a season-high 63 assists and also recorded a match-high 13 digs.

Milena Racic (Pozarevac, Yugoslavia) added 11 kills and 10 digs for the Patriots, while Shelbylynn McBride (Valrico, FL) chipped in with a dozen digs.

Three JMU players attained double-digit kills, highlighted by Dana Jones' 23. Larissa Winkler had 12 kills, Kate Fuchs 10.

Winkler was also one of four Dukes' players with 10 or more digs, joining teammate Jessica Evers with 13. Jones had 12 and Krysta Cannon 10.

In game five, JMU was up 14-11 and one point away from putting away the match, but Mason was able to snap off three straight points, with Pereira serving, to tie the game.

"You want the ball in the hands of your best player, and Aline got back there and gutted out some jump serves," head coach Pat Kendrick said of the last-minute game-five rush that got the Patriots back into the match.

After five more scoring ties, the Patriots were able to seal the match on Nicolette Bernardes' (King George, VA) solo block, one of Mason's 13 team blocks in the match.

After dropping tight decisions in games one and two, Mason ploughed through games three and four.

For the third game, the Patriots out-hit the Dukes .406 to .143, while in the fourth game Mason held a .233 to -.188 advantage. During those same two games, George Mason tallied eight blocks and six service aces, while JMU had just two blocks and didn't record an ace.

"I think we felt a sense of urgency," Kendrick said of her team's attitude that started the reversal of fortune after the ten-minute break between games two and three. "It was like, 'If we don't play well now, the match is over.'"

George Mason continues conference action Friday with its first CAA road trip of the season, a match at UNC Wilmington that starts at 7 p.m.