Oct. 17, 2008

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. - Down two sets, the George Mason women's volleyball team staged a furious comeback to force a fifth set but was unable to hold off Towson as the Tigers defeated the Patriots, 3-2 (25-19, 25-11, 20-25, 19-25, 16-14) in Colonial Athletic Association action at the Field House on Friday evening.

The loss snapped Mason's two-match winning streak as the Patriots fell to 6-13, 2-4 in the CAA, while the Tigers improved to 15-7 overall, 4-2 in conference action.

Mason was led by double-digit kill outings from juniors Rebecca Walter and Sam Simmonds, as the pair chipped in 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Recording a double-double for Mason was sophomore Fernanda Bartels, who had 34 assists and 11 digs, while freshman Katrina Boryc led all players with 17 digs. Maddie Haseltine powered the Tiger offense with 20 kills.

The two teams were even through much of the first set, but with the score tied at 17, Towson closed out the set with an 8-2 run. The Tigers out-hit the Patriots by a .220-to-.079 margin. Towson's scoring run continued into the next set, as it scored nine of the first 10 points. With their lead holding at 15-6, Mason was able to rattle off three points to cut the deficit to six points. Again, though, the Tigers found scoring in bunches as they went on an 8-0 run. The teams traded the next four points with Towson ultimately taking the two-set lead into the intermission.

In the third set, Mason's attack markedly improved as the Patriots out-hit Towson .250-to-.148 en route to the set victory. Down 11-7 in the set, Mason notched four points in a row to tie the score. The back-and-forth battle continued until another Mason rally set the stage for the win. Trailing by a 19-17 margin, a 6-0 Patriot scoring spree put Mason ahead for good.

The fourth set saw an even greater attack improvement for Mason as the Patriots hit a blistering .387 to force the deciding fifth set. After Towson took an early 2-1 lead, Mason tied the score on a Walter kill and never looked back, as it would not trail again in the set. Towson pulled within one at 11-10, but an impressive 7-1 run put the set out of reach for the Tigers.

Mason jumped on the lead early in the fifth set, going up by an 8-3 spread. However, the Tigers worked their way back into the match, tying the score at 12. Mason scored two of the next three points to set up match point, but Ally Perko registered a kill to even the ledger again. The next two points went to the Tigers, though, ending the match.

The Patriots will look to return to the win column when they face Delaware on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at the Field House.