FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's volleyball team battled St. Francis (Pa.) in a back-and-forth affair throughout Friday night's EIVA match, and in the end, it was the Patriots who came away with a win in the five-set thriller. Set scores were 25-19, 22-25, 25-12, 17-25, 16-14 as Mason improved to 12-10 (9-2 EIVA) while the Red Flash dropped to 8-15 (5-7 EIVA).
Michael Kvidahl registered a match-high 25 kills to pace the Mason offense and was joined in double figures by Mark Jones who added 10. Javier Perez had a match high as well with 59 assists while Max McFarland's 16 digs led all players. Logan Patterson paced the Red Flash with 12 kills.
A close contest from the opening serve, Mason broke open a 6-6 tie with a 9-3 run to take the lead at 15-9. The Red Flash pulled within four points but the Patriots answered back to make the score 20-13 and went up by as many as nine after three straight Kvidahl kills made the score 24-15. SFU staved off the end of the set with four straight points, but a Patterson service error gave the Patriots the match lead.
Mason's success continued into the second with a 7-2 run to begin the frame, but Saint Francis tied the score at 10 and took a16-12 lead thanks to an 8-2 run. The Patriots tied the score at 16 but would not regain the advantage, and the Red Flash got kills from Mark Kochan and Kyle Beatty to even the match at one set apiece.
A 9-1 run opened the third set's proceedings for the Patriots and they would not trail. Late in the set, SFU pulled to within 21-11 but Mason scored three out of the next four, and a block sent the match to the fourth with Mason up 2-1.
The Patriots did not lead in the fourth, though, despite pulling within a point on numerous occasions. The decisive stretch came when, seeing its lead cut to 8-6, Saint Francis rattled off a 9-3 run to make the score 17-9. Mason got no closer than seven as the match headed to the tiebreaker set.
The fifth set's margin stayed razor thin, with two points representing the largest difference until Mason got to match point at 14-11. A trio of kills by Patterson kept the Red Flash alive, tying the score at 14-all. Needing the extra points, Kvidahl slammed two feeds from Perez down and the Patriots captured the victory.
Mason is back in action Saturday night, hosting No. 13 Penn State in the Patriots' final home match of the season. Senior Night ceremonies will precede the first serve, which is set for 7 p.m.
