The George Mason men's volleyball team played in the
EIVA semifinals for the 11th
-straight season but the second-seeded
Patriots were unable to earn their 13th
EIVA title game appearance
as Mason fell to third-seeded Springfield on Thursday night, 3-1. The Pride got
huge contributions from all three of their first-team All-EIVA performers as the
Patriots saw their season end, 25-23, 28-26, 24-26, 25-20.
Springfield middle blockers Greg Falcone and Cal
Palumbo combined for 27 kills and no errors on 37 attacks, hitting .730 in the
match while Alberto Bravo had a match-high 26 kills. Mike Becker added 60
assists and was 7 of 8 in attacks while Nick Ferry had a match-high 11 digs.
Mark Jones
led Mason with 19 kills and seven digs while Eric Lucas
had 12
kills, seven digs and five blocks. Brandon Joyner
had nine kills and hit .750
while handing out 40 assists, blocking five shots and recording four digs. The
Patriots couldn't overcome Springfield's .413 attack percentage as the Pride
hit .300-or-better in all four sets and better than .500 twice.
It was a slow start for the Patriots (17-11), and if
not for some Springfield service problems, they would have been out of the
first set early. The Pride (18-14) committed service errors on their first four
serves which allowed Mason to stay in the match early. After 22 points (a 12-10
Pride lead), Springfield was hitting .583, the Patriots were hitting -.375 and
the Pride had committed eight service errors. The Pride were able to correct
their service issues around the same time the Patriots finally started hitting
the ball well and after falling behind by three, 15-12, Mason was able to rally
and tie the score at 16-16. From there, neither team was able to build any
momentum, as the teams found themselves knotted at 21-21. Mason took
back-to-back points to go ahead 23-21, and things looked good for the Patriots,
but Springfield answered with four straight points to take the first set,
25-23. The Pride hit .520 in the set while Mason hit just .136.
The second set saw the Patriots fall behind almost
immediately, as they were down 4-1 and still trailed by three at 8-5. Mason responded,
though, with a 5-1 run to take their first lead of the set, 10-9. The set was
tooth-and-nail the rest of the way. Tied at 18-18, Mason won four of five to go
up 22-19. Three of those four points came on Jones kills. Jones added another
kill to make it 23-21 but once again Springfield worked its magic, putting
together three straight to take a 24-23 lead. But the Patriots got a big block
to tie it at 24-24. The Pride had two more set points that Mason answered, the
third on another Jones kill. Tied at 26-26, Becker surprised the Patriots with
an attack that made it 27-26, and Palumbo attacked from the middle to close out
the set, 28-26.
The Patriots reversed course in the third set,
jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. Springfield closed to one at 6-5, but Mason
answered going back up by three, 9-6. Against the Pride closed the gap, making
it 10-9, and again the Patriots responded, going ahead 14-11. This time,
Springfield was able to finally earn their first tie of the set, as they won
four of the next five points to make it a 15-15 set. But not then, not at
16-16, nor at 17-17, did the Patriots let Springfield take a lead. A 3-0 run
gave Mason a 20-17 edge but the Pride again played stellar with their backs to
the wall. Trailing 23-21 for the third-straight set, the Pride ran off three
straight to earn a match point. But Jones had a kill to erase the match point
and Lucas had back-to-back kills to give Mason the third set, 26-24. Jones had
eight kills in the set while Joyner and Lucas combined for eight kills and just
one error.
After winning the opening point of the fourth set,
the Patriots watched as Springfield ran off four straight and went ahead, 8-4.
But the Patriots rallied to tie the set at 10-10 and it was still tied at
14-14. But the Pride won seven of the next nine points, including a 4-0 run, to
take a 21-16 lead. From there it was just a matter of trading points as
Springfield closed out the set, 25-20.
