March 24, 2007

Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. - On the second and final day of action at the Don Shondell/Active Ankle Challenge Tournament hosted by No. 15 Ball State, George Mason downed Quincy in three games (30-25, 30-18, 30-25) to split its two matches at the tournament.

With tonight's victory, George Mason evens its record at 7-7 on the season. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 4-20 overall this year. Mason outplayed Quincy in nearly every statistical category in the match, finishing with more kills (39-31), points (61.5-39.5), assists (35-30), service aces (9-2), team blocks (13.5-6.5) and a better team hitting percentage (.268-.047). The only category the Patriots trailed Quincy in was digs, with the Hawks recording one more than Mason, 21-20.

Quincy hit an abysmal -.125 in the opening game of the match, a five-point win for the Patriots. The Patriots hit .167 in the first game, but came out on fire in the second game, hitting .435. Mason took their first lead of the game at 9-8 and never let the Hawks back in the game, winning by 12. The Patriots closed out the match by hitting .261 in a five-point game three victory.

Redshirt freshman opposite hitter William Price and sophomore outside hitter Kyle Gramit were the only two players to finish with double-digit kill totals in the match. Price led all players with 15, while Gramit chipped in 10, hitting at a .471 clip. While he didn't reach double digits, redshirt freshman middle blocker Erik Lanham was nearly perfect in the match, finishing with seven kills on eight attempts for an .875 hitting percentage. Redshirt freshman setter Ryan Kwiatkowski led all players with 34 assists, Gramit led the team with six digs and Price paced the Patriots with five total blocks.

Peter Coley led Quincy with seven kills while John Markendorf added six kills. Eric Wooldridge finished with 20 assists and Mike Contee had six digs to lead Quincy.

In the tournament's closing match, No. 15 Ball State rallied from two games down to upset No. 9 Pacific 3-2 (27-30, 20-30, 30-23, 30-24, 15-13). In their only other match at the two-day tournament, the Patriots lost in four games to the host Cardinals last night at John E. Worthen Arena.

George Mason returns home to John Linn Memorial Gym next weekend to play New York University in a 7 p.m. match on Friday, March 30. Since a Jan. 27 victory against Lees-McRae, the Patriots have only played once at home, in a loss to then-No.7 Ohio State on March 4. Mason will close out the regular season with six consecutive home matches.