The George Mason men's volleyball team pushed their
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association record to 5-0 on Saturday afternoon
as they took a 3-1 win at Rutgers-Newark. The Patriots dropped the first set
but rallied and picked up their 10th
win of the season beating the
Scarlet Raiders, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23
The Patriots came into the weekend with as many wins
as all of last year. Now, at 10-3, 5-0, they are all alone in first place in
the EIVA, a half-game ahead of Penn State. On Saturday, the Patriots got 15
kills and nine digs from Mark Jones
, nine kills and a .412 hitting percentage from
Eric Lucas
, and six kills and eight blocks four block assists from Shaun
Sibley. Rutgers-Newark (9-2, 2-2) got 13 kills each from Kenneth deGroh and
Austin Pappas.
Mason started slow, falling behind 4-0 in the first
set, but rallied to take a 15-14 lead. But the Scarlet Raiders took a 16-16 set
and turned it into a 20-17 advantage. From there Mason couldn't get closer than
two as Rutgers-Newark closed out the first set. The Patriots fell behind 5-3 in
the second set, but the Patriots used a 5-0 run to go ahead 8-5. The Patriots
never looked back after that, even when a 4-0 run by Rutgers-Newark made it a
one-point game. The Patriots won four of the final five points to take the
second set and even the match.
The third set saw each team take leads early but
things changed for good with the set tied at 8-8. The Patriots won four straight
points and the Scarlet Raiders got within two but no closer the rest of the way
as a couple of service aces by Eric Lucas
provided a five-point cushion late in
the set.
In the fourth set, Mason led nearly the entire way
but Rutgers-Newark kept clawing its way back into the match. Down 21-17, the
Scarlet Raiders won six of the next eight points to tie the match at 23-23. But
Sibley had a kill and deGroh committed an attack error to put the match in the
books.
The Patriots will play at home next weekend for the
first time in February when they host Rutgers-Newark on Friday at 7 p.m. and
Penn State on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.
