The George Mason men's volleyball team started off
its biggest home weekend of the season with a dominant performance as the
Patriots downed Rutgers-Newark, 3-0 on Friday night. Mason, which will face
Penn State on Saturday night in a battle of Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball
Association unbeatens, overcame several sluggish stretches to beat the Scarlet
Raiders, 25-20, 25-23, 25-21.
Mark Jones
had 13 kills, Max McFarland
had eight
kills and hit .545, Brandon Joyner
had 34 assists and Dave Lucas
had nine digs
as the Patriots improved to 11-3, 6-0 in the EIVA. Rutgers-Newark got 16 kills and
a .480 hitting percentage out of Austin Pappas but hit just .212 in the match as a team. The
Scarlet Raiders fell to 10-3, 3-3.
Mason jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and
kept building to that lead, going ahead as much as eight at 19-11. The Scarlet
Raiders used a 5-2 run to pull to within five but Mason kept its composure and
put the set away.
In the second set, Mason fell behind early and
trailed by four at 15-11. The Patriots rallied to tie the match at 16-16, only
to once again fall behind, this time, 19-16. Another rally allowed Mason to tie
things at 21-21, then 22-22 before the Patriots won three of the final four
points to take a 2-0 lead.
There was no lull in the third set but the Patriots
weren't able to put away the Scarlet Raiders until late in the match. Mason was
ahead 7-6 when it used a 7-3 run to go ahead 14-9. Rutgers-Newark closed to
within two at 18-16, but the Patriots responded with another mini run, this
time 5-3, to go ahead by four at 23-19. From there the final outcome was
academic.
Now the Patriots have 22 hours to prepare for No. 11
Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 12-3 on the year, 5-0 in the EIVA. Mason beat
Ball State earlier this year at The RAC when the Cardinals were ranked No. 11. The
Patriots last beat Penn State in 2008, when the Nittany Lions won the national
title. That was the only loss Penn State suffered that season and it was ranked
No. 1 at the time. Mason has beaten Penn State twice in the past five seasons,
also beating the Nittany Lions in 2006 when Penn State was ranked No. 9 and
Mason was ranked No. 15.
