STOCKTON, Calif. - The No. 14 George Mason men's volleyball
team played a close match but came out on the losing end as it fell to Pacific,
3-0, in both team's season opener on Friday evening at the Alex G. Spanos
Center in Stockton, California.
Pacific swept the match with set scores of 25-23, 25-19,
25-23.
The first set was closely contested, featuring 11 ties and
neither team gaining more than a three point advantage. Pacific took an early
3-0 lead but the Patriots rallied with a 5-2 run to tie the score at 5-5. Both
squads exchanged points and played to a 13-13 draw before Mason used another
5-2 run to assume its largest lead of the match at 18-15. However, the Tigers
rattled off three-consecutive points to again tie the match (18-18) and took the
lead for good a 21-20 en route to winning the first set, 25-23.
Pacific again gained an early advantage in the second set,
jumping out to a 5-1 lead before the Patriots rallied to tie the score at 5-5. Mason
remained close and trailed by one point (14-13) before the home team used a 6-0
run to take a 20-13 lead, one the Patriots could not overcome as the Tigers
cruised to the 25-19 triumph.
Back-and-forth play opened the third set to leave the match
at a 5-5 draw, when Mason used a 3-0 run to assume an 8-5 advantage and force a
Pacific timeout. However, the Tigers rebounded to tie the score at 8-8 and took
the lead on the next point. Pacific maintained its lead, but Mason remained
within at least two points and eventually rallied to tie the match at 22. The
Tigers broke the tie only to see Mason tie the score again at 23, but Pacific
registered the final two points for a 25-23 set win and match sweep.
Senior outside hitter Michael Kvidahl led the Patriots with
15 kills, while senior setter Javier Perez dished out 29 assists. Perez and
classmate Piotr Dabrowski both finished with five blocks. For Pacific, Taylor
Hughes posted 16 kills, Patrick Tunnell had 32 assists and Tommy Carmody had nine
blocks.
Mason returns to the court tomorrow evening, facing No. 3
Stanford at 10:00 p.m.
