Sept. 14, 2002

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's volleyball team improved to 2-0 in the CAA and 6-3 overall with its 3-1 (30-23, 24-30, 30-18, 30-24) win over William & Mary (2-7, 0-2) Saturday afternoon at John Linn Gym.

Aline Pereira (Sao Paolo, Brazil) recorded a match-high 26 kills for the Patriots, while teammate Natalie Porosa (Scarborough, Ontario) added 11 as GMU posted 61 combined kills to William & Mary's 39. The Patriots also out-hit the Tribe .274 to .171.

GMU also found success from the service line, pasting 17 service aces on W&M, the most in a match for the Patriots since the 1989 season. Milena Racic (Pozarevac, Yugoslavia) led that surge with five aces, including a run of three straight in the first game. Pereira and Jesica Umansky (Buenos Aires, Argentina) had four aces each, while Amy Falk (Davis, CA/Davis) had two and Nikki Bernardes (King George, VA/King George) and Elizabeth Bottorf (Wintersville, OH/Indian Creek) had one each.

Umansky also clocked in with 48 assists.

With 11 and nine kills, respectively, Mandy Mayo and Kat Lewis led the Tribe's offense. Lewis also finished with a match-high 10 digs.

The Tribe had a strong presence around the net, recording 10 block assists and one block solo. Megan Eisenman was responsible for four of those assists, while Amy Owens added three.

Game one started out back-and-forth, but GMU never surrendered a lead once finally breaking a 6-6 tie. Racic's run of three consecutive service aces made the score 22-16 and provided fuel for the final push.

William & Mary led almost wire-to-wire in game two, but in game three GMU out-hit W&M .300 to -.048 to once again take control of the match.

The Patriots surged out to a 6-1 lead in that third game, but the Tribe rallied and actually knotted the score 11-11 before a strong GMU finish closed out the game.

Toward the end of the W&M run that resulted in the brief tie, GMU head coach Pat Kendrick subbed in Bernardes and Shauna Ford (Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge), a pair of freshmen, to give the Patriots a new look.

"Shauna and Nikki bring a different energy to the floor," said Kendrick, who notched career win 325 Saturday. "So it was good to get them in there, and they both did a good job."

The Patriots continued their torrid hitting attack in the final game, smashing .467, but the Tribe countered at .310 to keep it close.

GMU's next match is Tuesday, when it hosts James Madison at 7 p.m. at John Linn Gym.