April 2, 2006

Box Score

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LORETTO, Pa. - No. 14 George Mason defeated St. Francis (Pa.) three-games-to-one in EIVA Tait Division action on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena in Loretto, Pa. With the win, the Patriots improve to 19-5 overall and 8-1 in conference play, while the Red Flash fall to 13-9 and 7-4 in conference matches.

The win is the third of the season for Mason against St. Francis (Pa.), and second in the span of nine days. The Patriots also defeated the Red Flash in the Patriot Games Tournament on Jan. 28 in three games.

Trailing 27-23 in the first game, the Patriots mounted a comeback and went on to win by a final of 39-37. The Red Flash took the second game to even things up, but Mason won games three and four by scores of 30-27 and 30-26 to take the match.

Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Hudson Bates led the Patriots' attack with 22 kills on 41 swings. Redshirt senior setter Bryan Newcomb tallied a team-high 33 assists, while redshirt sophomore Billy Freesmeier added 27. Both Graham Sheppard and Kyle Gramit finished with double-digit dig totals. Sheppard led the way with 17 and Gramit chipped in 11. Junior middle blocker R.J. Goubeaux had nine block assists as the Patriots had 17.5 blocks as a team compared to 9.5 for the Red Flash.

The Patriots return home on Friday, April 7 to face Princeton in an EIVA Tait Division match at John Linn Memorial Gym. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. George Mason defeated Princeton in four games in the teams previous meeting on Feb. 17.