PRINCETON, N.J. – Sweeping Princeton in straight sets on Saturday, the George Mason men's volleyball team secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming EIVA Tournament.
With the win the Patriots improved their conference record to 11-3, placing them alone in second place in the final conference standings. Princeton dropped to 9-5 in the conference and will be the No. 4 seed. Harvard will be the No. 3 seed and take on the Patriots in the opening match of the EIVA Tournament after defeating Sacred Heart 3-0 on Saturday.
The first set opened to a 3-3 draw, but a 4-0 run by the Patriots put the visitors ahead, 7-3. Princeton slowly crept its way back into the set and tied the set at 11-11, but another 4-0 Mason run gave the Patriots a 15-11 lead and forced the Tigers to call a timeout. Mason held Princeton at bay down the stretch, never letting them get closer than two points as it won the first set, 25-23.
Princeton set the pace in the early going of the second set, building its lead to as many as five points, 11-6, midway through. However Mason dug deep to rally, scoring six of the next seven points to knot the score at 12-12. The lead exchanged hands several times as the teams battled back and forth to arrive at a 24-24 tie before Mark Jones and Javier Perez came up with timely kills to give the set to Mason, 26-24.
The third set was much of the same, as both teams built small leads they were unable to maintain before playing to a 15-15 draw. At that point the Patriots grabbed control, using two kills from Andrew Dentler and a block assist by Pat Sibley, Perez and Dentler to go up 18-15 and force the Tigers to call a timeout. It was all Mason the rest of the way, as it stayed strong and cruised to the 25-19 set triumph.
Michael Kvidahl finished with a team-best 12 kills, and Dentler followed closely behind with 10 kills. Perez dished out a match-high 37 assists, Max McFarland a match-best seven digs and Shaun Sibley a match-high seven blocks.
Princeton was led by 14 kills from Cody Kessel, 32 assists by Davis Waddell and three blocks apiece from Brad Howard Michael Dye.
Mason returns to action next Thursday, facing third-seeded Harvard in the first semifinal of the EIVA Tournament at Penn State. Gametime is slated for 5:30 p.m.
