Nov. 5, 2010

Box Score

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Senior Holly Goode registered 12 kills on .407 hitting as the George Mason women's volleyball team downed UNC Wilmington in a dominant three-set sweep on Friday night at Hanover Hall. Set scores were 25-17, 25-9, 25-10.

With just three matches left in the regular season, the victory ensures that Mason keeps pace with the conference leaders after beginning the weekend tied for third. The Patriots improved to 8-3 in Colonial Athletic Association action and 13-10 overall while the Seahawks dropped to 1-10 in league play and 7-20 overall.

Goode paced a Mason offense which out-hit UNCW by a .329-to-.010 margin. Junior Kelsey Bohman slammed seven blocks on the evening while classmate Noelle Fanella had a match-high with 13 digs. Senior Fernanda Bartels led all players with 31 assists. Christi Laite led the Seahawk effort with six kills.

The match was even in the early going, with the Seahawks leading 8-7 before four straight Mason points made it 11-8 in favor of the Patriots. Two points by UNCW cut it to a one-point game, but a 7-2 Patriots run gave Mason all the cushion it would need.

Similar to the final set when the two teams met just under a month ago, Mason dominated the final two sets. A 9-1 run by the Patriots opened up the second stanza and Mason led by as many as 16 at 21-5. Four out of the next six points went to the Seahawks but Mason closed out the set to win 25-9, using a .448-to-.086 hitting advantage.

With the Seahawk attack dropping to -.077 in the third set compared to .400 for the Patriots, Mason again started and finished strong. The Green and Gold scored a 10-3 run to open the action out of the locker room, and after UNCW made it 13-7 and forced a Patriots timeout, Mason gave up just three more points as the Patriots finished off a season sweep of the Seahawks.

Mason closes out its five-match road trip on Sunday afternoon when it travels to Atlanta to face Georgia State at 1 p.m.