The George Mason men's volleyball team suffered
back-to-back losses for the first time all season as the Patriots took to the
road on Friday night and fell at IPFW, 3-1. The Patriots had lost earlier this
season at home to IPFW and they were coming off a 3-0 loss at home to Penn
State last Saturday. This time around, Mason lost to the Mastodons, 25-14,
25-23, 23-25, 26-24.
Mark Jones
had 22 kills and nine digs, Eric Lucas
had seven kills and eight digs and Dave Lucas
had 10 digs as the Patriots had
chances in each of the final three sets but couldn't pull out the road win.
The Patriots trailed in the first set 9-7 before
IPFW went on a 12-4 run to take the fight out of the Patriots. It wasn't hard
for the Mastodons to pull out the first set from there as they won it by 11.
The second set saw the Patriots come out with a lot more energy and there 17
ties and nine lead changes in the set. Neither team could get separation until,
tied at 21-21, IPFW won three of the next four points to give itself set point
and it held on for the slim two-point win.
The third set saw IPFW try to pull away as the set
was tied at 7-7 before six straight points made it 13-7. Mason closed to 13-11
before the Mastodons went back up, 17-13. But the Patriots then ran off six
straight of their own to go ahead 19-17. The match was tied several times after
that, including at 21-21, but then it was Mason's turn to win three of four and
pull out the third-set victory.
The fourth and final set saw the teams tied 20 times
with nine different lead changes. The Patriots' last lead came at 23-22 but the
Mastodons rose to the challenge and closed out the match.
The Patriots will return to the court tomorrow night
when they play at Ball State at 7:30 p.m.
