Sept. 10, 2004

Box Score

It wasn't pretty, but the George Mason women's volleyball team finally opened the 2004 season on Friday evening at Georgetown University, and they did so with a hard-fought win. The Patriots defeated Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Georgetown Classic, beating the Hawks, 30-26, 19-30, 30-24, 30-8.

Niki Bernardes had 13 kills, Zulma Rojas had 15 digs and Jesica Umansky had 34 assists, eight digs, six kills and four aces. Mason made numerous errors in the second game to open the door for the Hawks but played a solid third game and a dominant fourth to improve to 1-0 on the season. The Patriots face Wright State on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Georgetown at 7 p.m.

Bernardes and Janelle Wilson had the strongest hitting matches for the Patriots. Bernardes had 13 kills on 36 attacks with a .167 hitting percentage. Wilson had nine kills and just two errors on 16 attacks for a .48 hitting percentage. She also had one solo block and three block assists. Natalia Porosa had nine kills but eight errors but made solid contributions on the back line, with 13 digs and two service aces.

The Patriots' serving game proved especially dangerous for the Hawks as Mason had 15 aces. Those aces, however, were hard to come by in the second game, when the Patriots committed nine hitting errors and put numerous serves into the net. That allowed Maryland-Eastern Shore to build a big lead that the Patriots could not overcome.

The third game was the flip side of that, however, as the Patriots built a 26-18 lead before holding off a late charge to take that game, 30-24. In the fourth and final game, Mason led by a mark of 17-4 before closing out the match.

The match marked the beginning of the Mason career for a trio of student-athletes. Freshman outside hitter Jaqueline Kohler started and had eight kills and 10 digs with five assists. She did commit eight hitting errors, as well. Also starting for the Patriots was junior middle blocker Chantal Bodkin-Clarke, a transfer from Western Iowa C.C. She had four kills and just one error on 14 attacks. She also had one solo block and one block assist. Freshman libero Kristen Byler came off the bench in two games and had one service ace.

The Hawks were led by Jana Milin, who had 14 kills and 16 digs, and Kate Smith, who had 24 assists.