The George Mason men's volleyball team took a 3-1
win over Princeton on Friday night in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball
Association regular-season finale for both teams. The Patriots dropped the
first set before rallying to take a 28-30, 25-16, 25-19, 26-24 win.
Mason (16-9, 8-2 EIVA) was led by Mark Jones, who had 15 kills, five aces and
four block assists, Michael Kvidahl, who had nine kills, two aces, four digs
and three block assists, and Shaun Sibley, who had six assists, hit .400 and
had two solo blocks and four block assists. Javier Perez added 36 assists. Princeton
(3-18, 1-9) got 17 kills and 13 digs from Vincent Tuminelli and 13 kills from
Michael Dye. Scott Liljestrom had 38 assists and eight digs.
In the first set, the Patriots jumped out to a 6-1
lead but Princeton rallied to tie the match at 6-6. Mason again went ahead,
this time at 16-12, but the Tigers used a 12-4 rally to take a 24-20 lead. But
Mason won four straight points to extend the set. It stayed tight until Michael
Dye had a kill to make it 29-28 and Michael Kvidahl had an attack error to give
Princeton the first set.
The Patriots allowed no comeback in the second set.
They went ahead 4-3 and proceeded to run off eight straight points to go ahead
12-3. The Tigers broke the big Mason run but could get no closer than eight the
rest of the way. Princeton went on a 5-1 run late in the set but it barely put
a dent in Mason's lead as the Patriots took the set, 25-16.
The third set was much tighter with the lead
swinging back and forth early. Mason took control with a 5-1 run that turned a
slim 13-12 lead into an 18-13 advantage. From there on out the Tigers could get
no closer than three points as Mason won 25-19 to go up 2-1 in the match.
Neither team could get separation early in the
fourth set and each time a team made a run, the other answered. Mason went
ahead 6-4 and Princeton used a 3-0 run to take a lead. The Patriots were ahead
11-10 and the Tigers went up 13-11 only to see Mason win three of the next four
points to tie the match at 14-14. The Patriots took their first true lead of
the set when, down 15-14, they ran off five straight points to go ahead 19-15.
But the Tigers were not discouraged as they rallied down the stretch winning
nine of the next 14 points to tie the match at 24-24. But the Patriots won the
final two points, both on Princeton attack errors, to take the set 26-24, and
the match, 3-1.
The Patriots return to action on Saturday night when
the Patriots celebrate Senior Night by hosting #9 Ohio State at the RAC at 7
p.m.
