FAIRFAX, Va. - Michael Kvidahl led the George Mason men's volleyball team with 10 kills, but the Patriots fell in three closely-contested sets to Loyola-Chicago (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) in non-conference action Friday evening at the RAC. Mason dropped to 4-7 with the loss, while the Ramblers improved to 7-6.

Kvidahl was the lone Patriot to score double-digit kills, while Pete Cuppernull added 26 assists and Piotr Dabrowski contributed a match-high five total blocks (two solo). Joe Norton had a team-high nine digs.

Mike Bunting scored a match-high 14 kills while Cody Caldwell contributed 11 kills and 11 digs to pace the Ramblers, who out-hit the Patriots by a .323-to-.080 margin.

Mason had the hot start, opening the match with four of the first five points. After maintaining the lead as both teams forced three sideouts on each other, the Patriots succumbed to a 7-1 Loyola run which made the advantage 11-8 in favor of the visitors. Another run of 7-4 pushed the lead to 18-12, but the Patriots responded with a 6-3 run of their own to make the deficit three at 21-18. Three of the next four points went to Loyola to bring set point, but two straight Rambler errors extended the set before a Mason error gave the set to Loyola.

The margin never grew beyond two in the opening moments of the second set, and the Patriots were up 11-10 before a 6-1 scoring stretch by Loyola opened up a 16-12 lead. Mason was unable to overcome the deficit, again extending beyond the first set point and closing within 24-23 before an attack error made the advantage two sets to none in favor of the Ramblers.

Into the third set, the margin again stayed within two through the first half of the frame, before Loyola erased a 13-12 Mason lead with a 6-3 run. The Ramblers led by no more than three, but were able to prevent the Patriots from knotting the score and on the second match point, a Bunting kill closed out the match.