April 21, 2007

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. - The third-seeded George Mason Patriots (12-9, 7-5 EIVA Tait) downed the sixth-seeded East Stroudsburg Warriors (11-13, 5-8 EIVA Tait) in three games (30-12, 30-27, 30-19) in the quarterfinal round of the EIVA Championship Tournament on Saturday evening at John Linn Memorial Gym. With tonight's win, the Patriots advance to the semifinal round of the tournament, where they will face the second-seeded St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash at the home of top-seeded Penn State on Thursday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m.

Mason played East Stroudsburg just eight days ago at Linn Gym, with the Patriots winning the first game in that match by 20 points on their way to a 3-0 victory. Just like that match, George Mason got off to a dominant start in the first game tonight, winning by 18 points, 30-12. With Mason leading 20-12, redshirt freshman opposite hitter William Price put on an awesome display to close out the first game, serving for the final 10 points of the game. Price served all four of his aces during the 10-0 run and tallied two of his match-high 18 kills during that stretch. The Patriots never trailed in the entire first game.

The second game was the most competitive of the match, featuring 11 ties and five lead changes, as East Stroudsburg fought hard to avoid falling into a 2-0 hole. After pulling into a one-point lead at 15-14 after East Stroudsburg's Justin Allcock committed an attack error, the Patriots never relinquished the lead, winning the game 30-27.

The third game was similar to the first as Mason never trailed in taking a 30-19 win to close out the match. Price, who registered a hitting percentage of .654 in the match, closed out the game and the match with his final kill off a nice feed from redshirt freshman setter Ryan Kwiatkowski, who tallied a match-high 46 assists and seven digs in the victory.

George Mason hit .420 in the match, its second-best total of the season. Meanwhile, East Stroudsburg struggled all night long, hitting a paltry .087 as the Patriots registered 14 blocks as a team. Senior middle blocker Kyle Swanson led all players with eight in the match.

The only player to reach double-digits in kills for the Warriors was senior Keith Eckenrode, who finished with 10. Senior setter Adam Holdredge tallied 28 assists in the losing effort.

With three wins against East Stroudsburg this season, George Mason pushes its record to an impressive 50-7 in the all-time series against the Warriors.

In other EIVA Championship Tournament action, fourth-seeded Princeton will host fifth-seeded Juniata tomorrow in a quarterfinal match at 3 p.m. The winner of that match will face top-seeded Penn State in the semifinal round at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26.