The George Mason men's volleyball team took to the road on Friday night but the Patriots were unable to pick up the road win as Mason fell at Loyola-Chicago, 3-1. The Patriots hit .206 in the match while Loyola-Chicago hit .366 as the Ramblers beat the Patriots, 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20.

Eric Lucas had 14 kills and eight digs while Piotr Dabrowski had nine kills while hitting .643 to lead the Patriots. Joseph Smalzer led the Ramblers with 18 kills while hitting .438 and Dainis Berzins had 10 kills to go with a .571 hitting percentage. Loyola-Chicago had a 10-6 edge in blocks.

The Ramblers jumped out 6-1 in the first set but Mason went on a 7-3 run to make it a 9-8 contest. Loyola-Chicago answered by rebuilding the lead, going ahead 17-10 behind Mike Hutz' serve. The Patriots didn't back down, though, as the narrowed the deficit to 19-17. With Mason trailing 22-20, the Rambler ran off three of the set's final four points to go ahead 1-0.

The second set was similar to the first in how it started, as Loyola-Chicago went ahead 6-1. But Mason's rally only closed the game to 9-5 as the Ramblers kept their foot on the pedal. Using Berzins' serve, they went ahead 17-8. From there it was just a matter of matching points as Loyola-Chicago took the 2-0 lead.

The third set was the only one in the match in which the Ramblers had a hitting percentage of less than .400. The Patriots took advantage after falling behind 6-2. They rebounded with a 11-5 run to go ahead 13-10. While Loyola-Chicago rallied to tie the score at 17-17, the Ramblers never retook the lead as Mason closed the game with an 8-5 run.

The final set was tight throughout. The Patriots were down 4-1 and 7-4 but closed to make it 14-13. Mason trailed 18-17 before Loyola-Chicago closed with a 7-3 run to earn the 3-1 victory.

The Patriots return to action on Saturday when they play at Lewis at 7 p.m.