The George Mason men's volleyball team rallied from
a 2-0 deficit to storm back and stun Division III No. 1 Springfield on Friday
night, beating the Pride 3-2 behind Mark Jones
' 30 kills. Jones, who also hit
.354 in the match with seven digs, set a career high as Mason improved to 8-2
on the year, 3-0 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
Jones' 30 kills are the most by a Patriot this
season while the Patriots also got 12 kills from Max McFarland
and 11 from Eric
Lucas. Brandon Joyner
had 52 assists while Patrick Maloney
had 12 digs.
Springfield got 25 kills from Alberto Bravo, 12 kills from Mike Pelletier and
64 assists from Mike Becker. Tommy Crow added a match-high 14 digs for the
Pride (3-6, 0-3).
In the opening set, Mason fell behind 9-6 before
closing to 11-10. But Springfield answered by going back ahead 18-13. That proved
critical as the Patriots rallied to make it a 20-19 contest before the Pride
won five of the final six points to go up, 1-0.
The second set never saw Mason rally as the Pride
went ahead 12-6 and never allowed Mason to get closer than four points the rest
of the way. The third set was tied 15 times before Mason finally closed strong.
With the set tied at 20-20, Mason won four straight behind a Mark Jones
kill, a
Shaun Sibley
kill and two Springfield attack errors,. The Patriots held off a
late Springfield rally, using a timeout while clinging to a 24-23 lead to
regroup and win the set.
Fresh off the third-set win, the Patriots came out
with tons of confidence in the fourth set. The Patriots roared out to an 8-4
lead and after the Pride pulled to within two at 12-10, Mason went back up
18-14. Again the Pride pulled to within two, this time at 20-18, but the
Patriots closed with a 5-2 run to even the match at 2-2.
The fifth set was tense as Springfield went up 2-0
before Mason won three straight to take the lead. The match was tied at 3-3 and
4-4 before the Patriots were able to take a two-point lead. It finally went to
a three-point lead at 10-7. The Patriots made it 12-8 but the Pride stepped up
with a 3-0 run to make it 12-11. The Patriots responded by going back up 14-12
but Springfield would not relent, closing to 14-13 before a Mason timeout. Out
of that timeout, Jones picked up his 30th
kill to end the match and
push Mason's winning streak to three straight and six of the past seven.
The Patriots will play tomorrow night at Sacred
Heart at 7:30 p.m., the fourth of six-straight road matches.
