FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's volleyball team set
the tempo from opening serve until the end as it set down No. 15 Harvard in
straight sets on Friday evening at The RAC.
Mason won with set scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 to improve
to 6-7 overall and 4-2 in the conference. Harvard dropped to 9-3 overall and
5-2 in the EIVA.
The Patriots hit a strong .323 for the match and posted 8.5
team blocks, compared to just .147 hitting and 3.0 blocks for the Crimson.
Battling for points to open the match, the set went to a 7-7
draw before Harvard gained a slight advantage with a 3-0 run to lead, 10-8.
However the Patriots responded with a 6-1 run of their own, jumping out to a
14-11 lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the way. The Crimson
never pulled closer than three points down the stretch, and Mason closed with
three consecutive kills by Piotr Dabrowski, Mark Jones and Michael Kvidahl for
the 25-20 win.
Mason took the first two points of the second set, but it
was a close game as the two team battled to an 11-11 tie. A kill by Dabrowski
and a service ace and kill from Kvidahl put Mason ahead for good at 13-11 while
forcing a Harvard timeout. The Crimson scored the first point out of the break,
but two more Patriot tallies pushed the advantage to 15-12. The Crimson rallied
to pull to within one point at 15-14, but it was all Mason the rest of the way
as it closed with a 10-5 scoring advantage for the final 25-19 margin.
Mason scored the first point in the third set and never
looked back as it maintained the lead all the way to a 25-19 set triumph and
match sweep. Kvidahl opened the set with a kill and the Patriots steadily built
their lead with hot hitting, leaving the scoreboard at 13-7 before Harvard
finally called a timeout. Even with the stoppage, Mason registered the next two
points to jump out to a commanding 15-7 advantage and cruised to the set win.
Jones and Kvidahl each finished with a match-high 14 kills,
while Pat Sibley added nine behind a .818 hitting percentage and Javier Perez
dished out a match-high 34 assists. Andrew Dentler had a match-high four blocks
in addition to three apiece from Dabrowski and Sibley.
DJ White paced the Crimson with 11 kills, Rob Lothman had 26
assists and Caleb Zimmick had three blocks.
The Patriots take on another EIVA opponent tomorrow, hosting
Sacred Heart at 7:00 p.m.
