The George Mason men's volleyball team advanced to
the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association semifinals for the 11th
-straight
season on Saturday night as the second-seeded Patriots defeated the
seventh-seeded NYU Violets, 3-1 at The RAC. Mason will play in the semifinals
next Thursday at Penn State after beating NYU, 25-16, 26-24, 23-25, 25-16.
Eric Lucas 15 kills and didn't make an error on 25
attacks to hit .600 in the match. Mark Jones added 14 kills and six digs,
Colton Naill had nine blocks, Shaun Sibley had four kills and seven blocks and
Brandon Joyner had five kills and no errors on nine attacks to go with nine
blocks, six digs and 41 assists. NYU got 15 kills and a .480 hitting percentage
from Francis Hodgson while Connor Mortland had 39 assists. Jay Hayes added 10
digs. Mason had a 21-3 edge in blocks.
Mason had its way with NYU in the opening set as the
Patriots had 11 kills and made just one error in hitting .556. Six different
players had kills for the Patriots while Joyner had 10 assists in the set. The
score was tied at 8-8 when Mason used a 4-0 run to get some separation and the
run continued as the Violets fell behind 20-12. From there it was just a matter
of trading point for point as the Patriots won the opener, 25-16.
The second set saw Mason play from behind for
virtually the entire game. After leading 1-0, NYU took the lead and allowed
Mason to get ahead just twice until the end game. The Patriots were up 6-5 and
16-15 but the Violets answered that last Mason lead with a 5-1 run to go ahead
20-17. The Patriots slowly cut into the Violets' advantage and with NYU ahead
23-22, Mason won back-to-back points to go up 24-23. After a Hodgson kill tied
the score, Jones had a kill and Joe Norton served out the set with an ace, giving
Mason the game, 26-24.
The third game was just as tight but this time, NYU
didn't wither down the stretch. The Violets didn't get any true separation
until they turned a 15-15 affair into a 21-17 lead. The Patriots didn't back
down, though, as they closed to 24-23 on Joe Norton's kill. But Joyner's
service error ended the comeback, giving NYU the third set, 25-23.
The final set was eerily similar to the first. The
set was tied at 5-5 and Mason had a slim 14-13 lead but Max MacFarland and John
Jepson combined at the service line to help the Patriots win 10 of the next 12
points and go ahead 24-15. Lucas finished off the match with his 15th
kill as Mason won the set 25-16.
The Patriots return to action on Thursday when they
will face third-seeded Springfield at 5:30 p.m. at Penn State. The winner of
that match advances to next Saturday's EIVA Championship with a berth in the
NCAA Final Four on the line. Mason swept the two regular-season meetings with
Springfield, winning at home, 3-0, and on the road, 3-2. The Pride advanced to
the semifinals by beating Juniata, 3-2.
