FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's volleyball team held
off a pesky Sacred Heart team to pick up its second conference win of the weekend
as it bettered the Pioneers, 3-0, on Saturday evening at The RAC.
The Patriots evened their overall record at 7-7 and improved
to 5-2 in the EIVA, while Sacred Heart fell to 2-11 overall and 1-7 in the
conference.
Mason led from start to finish in the opening set, jumping
out to an early 5-1 advantage. The Patriots took their largest lead of the
match following a 6-0 run keyed by kills from Mark Jones, Michael Kvidahl and
Andrew Denter, and three SHU attack errors to leave the score at 21-11. The
Pioneers attempted a rally with three-consecutive points, but Mason closed with
a 5-0 run to take the set, 25-14.
The second set proved to be a different story, as Sacred
Heart owned a 6-2 lead early, causing the Patriots to call a timeout. Mason
slowly began chipping away at the lead before finally tying the match at 11-all
with a Kvidahl service ace. SHU responded, scoring six of the next seven points
to go up by five points (17-12), but again the Patriots climbed their way back
into the set and pulled even with the Pioneers at 21-all on another Kvidahl
service ace. The two squads exchanged points down the stretch and needed extras
to finally settle the set, as a SHU service error and Michael Kvidhal put the
set away for the Patriots, 28-26.
Big scoring runs for both teams set the pace of the third
set, first starting with the Patriots. With the score tied at 6-6, Mason used a
5-1 run to take a four-point lead at 11-7. Then it was Sacred Heart's turn,
registering eight of the next nine points to grab the lead, 15-12. A 7-0 run by
the Patriots put them up for good, 19-15, before closing with a 6-4 scoring
advantage to take the final set, 25-19.
Mason hit .290 in the match and posted 8.5 team blocks while
limiting the Pioneers to .150 hitting.
Jones and Kvidahl finished with 12 kills apiece, and Javier
Perez dished out a match-high 30 assists. Dabrowski chipped in a match-best
five blocks.
SHU's Nick Hunt posted a match-high 14 kills.
The Patriots return to action on Wednesday, hosting Lewis at
7:00 p.m.
