FAIRFIELD, Conn. - as the George Mason men's volleyball team
fell to Sacred Heart, 3-2, on Saturday evening at the William H. Pitt Center.
Sacred Heart won the match, 25-16, 19-25, 18-25, 25-13,
15-12.
George Mason (4-6, 1-1 EIVA) started the match on a 3-0 run
and eventually took a 5-2 lead early in the first set. However, Sacred Heart
(4-7, 1-2) tied the set at 6-6 and then exchanged points with Mason to bring
the set to an 8-8 draw. The Pioneers then grabbed the lead for good after a 3-0
run gave them an 11-8 lead. A 6-3 run pushed Sacred Heart's advantage to 17-11
before a Patriots' comeback pulled the team back to within three points at
19-16. However, the Pioneers held Mason scoreless the rest of the set as they
closed on a 6-0 run for the final 25-16 decision.
After the second set opened with both teams exchanging points
to a 2-2 tie, Mason grabbed the lead for good at 3-2 as it went on to win,
25-19. Mason took the lead off of an attack error by Sacred Heart's Bradley
Borsay, followed by a service ace by junior outside hitter Mark Jones and other
Pioneer attack error for a 5-2 lead. The Patriots took their largest lead of
the match, seven points (14-7) midway through the set and never allowed SHU
closer than three points the rest of the way for the win.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, as the Patriots
and Pioneers battled to an 18-18 tie late in the set, but Mason held Sacred
Heart scoreless the rest of the way, winning by a set score of 25-18. The 7-0
run started off a SHU service error, followed by three consecutive attack
errors from the Pioneers. After Sacred heart called a timeout, the team
suffered another service error followed by a kill from redshirt senior Joe
Norton. The Pioneers again called for a timeout, but the final point of the set
came on yet another Sacred Heart attack error for the Patriots victory.
Sacred Heart controlled the fourth set, as it never trailed
in the 25-13 decision. The Pioneers took an early four-point advantage (6-2)
and steadily built on their lead the remainder of the set as it cruised to the
win and forced a decisive fifth set.
Mason took advantage of five consecutive attack errors by
Sacred Heart to open the fifth set and take a 5-0 lead. However, Mason's 5-0
run was matched by a 7-0 run from the Pioneers, giving them a 7-5 lead. Mason
called a timeout and ended the scoreless run with a kill from junior middle
blocker Piotr Dabrowski, but the Patriots were unable to again capture the lead
as it fell, 15-12.
Both teams struggled hitting for the match, as Mason hit
just .099 and Sacred Heart was limited to .171. However, the Patriots finished
with 17 total team blocks, compared to just 11.5 for the Pioneers.
Mason was led by 10 kills from Mark Jones, while redshirt
freshman setter Pete Cuppernull had 36 assists and Dabrowski chipped in a
game-high 10 block assists.
For Sacred Heart, Nick Hunt had a game-high 23 kills, and
John Lutjen added a game-high 40 assists.
The Patriots return to the RAC next Friday evening, playing
host to Loyola-Chicago at 7:00 pm.
