Feb. 19, 2009
Box Score
FAIRFAX, Va. -
No. 14 George Mason (5-3, 1-1 EIVA Tait) was upset by Juniata College (6-3, 3-2 EIVA Tait) in four sets in an EIVA Tait Division men's volleyball contest on Thursday evening at the Field House. The 32-34, 30-28, 20-30, 28-30 loss is the first conference loss of the 2009 season for the Patriots.
Playing in front of the home crowd for the first time in nearly a month, Mason was unable to settle into a rhythm, dropping a hotly contested first set by two points. The Patriots thwarted four chances by the Eagles to close out the opening set before finally succumbing to the visitors when Dan Follet and Evan Halteman combined at the net to block Mason senior Kyle Gramit's attack for a 34-32 win.
George Mason evened the score in the second set, never falling behind on its way to a 30-28 win. Mason led by as many as six points in the set and turned away a late charge that brought Juniata College within a point. Leading 29-28, senior Brandon McLaughlin closed out the set with a kill off an assist from junior Ryan Kwiatkowski.
In the third set, the Eagles cruised to a 30-20 victory to take a 2-1 lead before closing out the match with a 30-28 win in the fourth set. Juniata College never trailed in the final two sets.
The Eagles outhit the Patriots .301 to .238 in the match. Leading the Juniata College attack was junior Zach Wanner, who finished with 30 kills on 59 swings for a hitting percentage of .356. Craig Harvey and Halteman finished with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Libero Anthony Damiano recorded a match-high 15 digs.
Gramit recorded 17 kills to lead the Patriots. Junior Ben Nichols chipped in 16, while McLaughlin finished with 11 kills. Libero Eric Lucas led Mason with 12 digs.
George Mason finished with 15.5 team blocks to Juniata College's 7.5. McLaughlin and Nichols both tallied six total blocks in the loss.
The Patriots hit the road for their next contest, traveling to Newark, N.J. to take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology in a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Feb. 21.
