April 5, 2009

Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. - The George Mason men's volleyball team was unable to close its weekend schedule with a win, dropping a three-set decision to Saint Francis (Pa.) on Sunday afternoon at DeGol Arena in Loretto, Pa. Final set scores were 28-30, 25-30 and 26-30.

Saint Francis moves to 13-12 overall and 6-5 in the EIVA Tait Division. George Mason drops to 10-13 overall and 3-5 in conference matches.

The Red Flash started off strong, scoring the first two points of the match on kills by Jordan Varee. They went on to take a 14-10 lead on a kill from Alex Fortney, and were able to keep the lead and stretch it to 24-19 with another Fortney kill. George Mason battled back to tie the set at 27, and then 28-28 before a kill by Nick Rivett and an attack error by Patriot outside hitter Andrew Dentler sealed the opening-set win for Saint Francis at 30-28.

A kill by Rivett earned the Red Flash the first points of the second set, and a service ace by Rivett put them ahead 3-1. Saint Francis built a 19-13 lead on another kill by Rivett, and the advantage increased to seven points following a Patriot attack error. George Mason was unable to close the gap, and the Red Flash sealed set two 30-25 with a kill by Rivett to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Rivett put the Red Flash ahead 4-0 in set three with a kill off an assist by Shane Conley. The Patriots came close to tying the set, when a kill by senior Kyle Gramit closed the gap to 19-18. Saint Francis regrouped to take a 25-21 lead on a Fortney kill, and put an end to the match with a kill by Ryan Williams to earn a 30-26 decision in the third set.

Saint Francis ended the afternoon with a .345 team hitting percentage and 58 kills. Rivett accounted for 20 of those kills, while Varee chipped in 19. John Wappler led the team in digs with 11.

Gramit had 18 kills for the Patriots, and Ryan Kwiatkowski distributed a team-high 36 assists. George Mason had a three-set hitting percentage of .274.

The Patriots return home to face Springfield College in a 7 p.m. match on Friday, April 10 at the Field House.