Nov. 5, 2005
Box Score
The George Mason women's volleyball team played its final home match of the season on Saturday night at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium, and the Patriots played exceptionally well early in the match, but the emotional edge that they possessed was not enough to sustain the players through to the end as William & Mary held off the Patriots, 30-25, 28-30, 30-17, 30-22 in Colonial Athletic Association action.
The Patriots had one of their best hitting games of the season to open the match, pounding out 15 kills and hitting .406 in the first game. Mason was down just 20-17 and in position to make a run before a pair of William & Mary runs put The Tribe in control of the game. Mason fought back from a 28-22 deficit to make it 29-25, but Megan Eisenman's kill off a Kim Mount assist closed out the first game.
The Patriots did not back down, however, as Mason became the aggressor in the second game. The Patriots led 12-11 before winning eight of nine points, most off of Jaqueline Kohler's serve, to take a 20-12 lead. William & Mary did fight back, eventually pulling to within one at 29-28, but Caitlin Geraghty had an attack error to give Mason the game.
The third game saw The Tribe (20-8, 13-3) rediscover the level of play which has them in second-place in the CAA. William & Mary rode Erin Simmons' serve from a 6-3 deficit to a 9-6 lead. Later, Kathleen Hawley served from 10-7 to 14-7 to essentially give The Tribe a 2-1 lead.
The final game was relatively tight with the match tied at 10-10. But Kate Woffindin had a pair of kills and Mandy Mayo added a service ace as The Tribe went ahead 17-12. From then on, William & Mary was able to maintain a six-point lead until Megan Hector's kill ended the match, and extended Mason's losing streak to 11 matches.
The Patriots had four seniors in the lineup and a fifth on the bench for the final time at home. Natalia Porosa, injured since late September, was unable to play. She will have surgery on her knee in the coming week, ending a career that saw her named first-team All-CAA in 2004 and reach more than 950 kills and 800 digs. Julie Flanders, playing with the team this year after a four-year career with the women's basketball team, had four kills, four digs and three total blocks. Lindsay Angelo, who has been with the team for three years but has managed approximately one year's worth of action due to injuries, was in the starting lineup, compiling a season-high eight digs to go with two assists.
Three-year starter Zulma Rojas had 13 digs for Mason as well as three service aces. Four-year letterwinner Niki Bernardes had nine kills and nine digs, as well as three assists. The Patriots received strong performances from three players who will have eligibility next year. Chantal Bodkin-Clarke had 18 kills and hit .467. She started the match with 14 kills and no errors on her first 17 attacks before William & Mary made some adjustments to deal with her. Kohler added 16 kills and 11 digs while sophomore Sarah Hipps had 45 assists and 15 digs, one off her career high.
William & Mary was led by Woffindin's 16 kills. Geraghty added 10 kills while Hector had 14 kills and Mandy Mayo had 11 kills. Mount finished with 55 assists and seven digs while Kathleen Hawley had a match-high 24 digs. The Patriots (4-19, 1-15) are in action on Friday at Delaware.
