FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason volleyball team completed its weekend slate of non-conference action with a 3-0 sweep of Lees-McRae on Saturday evening at The RAC.
Hitting .244 for the match and finishing with 10 service aces, the Patriots won with set scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-22, improving to 11-10 overall. The Bobcats fell to 16-9.
The Patriots took an early 3-1 lead in the first set and extended the advantage to as many as three points, 10-7. However, Lees-McRae scored three consecutive points to tie the set at 10-10 and after a Matt Harpenau service error, took two more points to assume a 12-11 lead and force a Mason timeout. The Patriots won the first point after the break and took the lead back at 13-12 on a kill by Pat Sibley. Maintaining the lead to 15-13, the Bobcats rallied to take the lead back (17-15) with four consecutive points. It was short lived, as Mason took the next two points for an even 17-17 on the scoreboard, and after playing to a 19-19 draw, a Bobcat error put the Patriots ahead for good as they won six of the final eight points to win, 25-21.
Lees-McRae controlled the second set early, assuming a 12-10 advantage before Mason rattled off four consecutive points keyed by two service aces and a kill from Michael Kvidahl and another kill by Jonathan Lutz to put the Patriots in control, 14-12. Mason controlled the tempo the rest of the way and built its advantage to as many as five points before winning, 25-19.
Carrying momentum over to the third set, the Patriots jumped out to a 10-5 advantage before Lees-McRae called a timeout. The Bobcats took the first three points out of the break to pull to within two (10-8), but each time L-MR attempted a rally the Patriots quashed it, building its lead back to four points, 16-12. The bothersome Bobcats wouldn't go away, scoring seven of the next nine points to take back the lead, 19-18. However, Mason took the next two points to take back the lead, 20-19, and held on to that advantage as it swept the match with a 25-22 third set triumph.
Kvidahl finished with a match-high 11 kills and six service aces, while Jonathan Lutz chipped in eight kills, Shaun Sibley added 7 and Javier Perez dished out a match-best 31 assists. Kvidahl and Shaun Sibley had a team-best three blocks apiece.
Javier Jimenez led the Lees-McRae offense with 11 kills, Randy Ramirez had 27 assists and Joshua Jones finished with a match-high five blocks.
The Patriots return to conference action next weekend, hosting St. Francis (Pa.) and Penn State at The RAC.
