CHICAGO, Ill. - Poor hitting hurt the George Mason men's volleyball team as it fell to No. 14 Loyola-Chicago by a score of 3-1 on Friday evening at the Gentile Arena in Chicago.

The Ramblers emerged victorious, defeating the Patriots with set scores of 25-19, 25-13, 20-25, 25-23.

The Ramblers (4-5) dominated the first two sets, never allowing Mason (3-3) to take the lead as they won the sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-13, respectively.

Momentum changed to favor the Patriots in the third set. After capturing the first point of the set to assume their first lead of the match, the Patriots then battled back and forth with the Ramblers, playing to an 8-8 tie. Mason took the lead off of a block assist from redshirt senior outside hitter Joe Norton and freshman middle blocker Hunter Stevens to leave the score at 9-8, and the Patriots maintained their lead the remainder of the set to win by a score of 25-20.

With the fourth set tied at 4-4, Mason took the lead on a kill by junior outside hitter Mark Jones, and extended its lead to as many as four points (21-17). However, the Patriots let the Ramblers find their way back into the match, as Loyola-Chicago went on a 4-0 run to tie the match at 21-21. Both teams exchanged points to leave the match tied at 24-24, but the Ramblers took the lead for good on a Joseph Smalzer kill as it claimed the final set, 26-24.

Mason was led by a game-high 13 kills from Jones, while redshirt junior outside hitter Andrew Dentler finished with 11 kills. Redshirt freshman setter Pete Cuppernull contributed 30 assists, and Stevens added a game-high six blocks. As a team, Mason hit just .115 for the match, including negative percentages in the first and second sets.

Loyola-Chicago's Smalzer andCody Caldwell finished with 13 kills apiece, and Matt Mirick dished out a game-high 50 assists.

The Patriots return to action tomorrow evening as they face No. 7 Lewis University at 8:00 pm.