Oct. 1, 2004

Box Score

The George Mason women's volleyball team was without its most experienced hitter but the Patriots didn't really miss junior outside hitter Natalia Porosa's 3.8 kills per game. Freshman outside hitter Jaqueline Kohler and sophomore middle blocker Janelle Wilson and junior outside hitter Niki Bernardes were there to pick up the slack as the Patriots defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 30-25, 30-20, 30-18 on Friday night at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium.

The Patriots improved to 1-1 in Colonial Athletic Association action and 6-4 on the season. They will face James Madison on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Fairfax, Va. Porosa, who is suffering from a sore knee, may return to action on Saturday. Virginia Commonwealth fell to 4-10 on the year and 0-2 in CAA play. They travel to Towson for a 5 p.m. match on Saturday.

Kohler had 14 kills and committed just one error on 29 attacks to compile a .448 hitting percentage. Wilson added six kills and just one error on 13 total attacks and Bernardes had 10 kills and 10 digs along with three service aces. The Patriots had things working in all phases of the game. They had 10 service aces to just two for Virginia Commonwealth. While the Rams got 16 digs from Griselle Lopez Pereira, who is third in the nation in digs per game, Mason junior Zulma Rojas did even better with 17 digs. Rojas added three service aces. Marie Skelton had six kills and 13 digs. The Mason attack was led as usual by senior setter Jesica Umansky, who had 38 assists and 10 digs.

Virginia Commonwealth got a team-high nine kills from freshman outside hitter Rachel Chapin but she also committed eight errors. As a team, the Rams hit just .053, but their success came in the first game, when they hit .188. In the second game, VCU hit .000 and in the third, they hit -.088. The Patriots hit .259 in the match, and .244 or better in each game. Shahrzad Firouzabadian had 20 assists for Virginia Commonwealth while Lindi Sheppard had seven assists.