COLUMBUS, Ohio - The George Mason men's volleyball team dropped the opening match of the 2014 season against No. 15 Ohio State (2-3). The Buckeyes took straight sets on Saturday evening at St. John's Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The Patriots led early in the first set 10-8 after back-to-back kills by Dom Edgley and Popov Radoslav. The match had ties at 11 and also at 14. With the Patriots trailing 21-18, Mason had two straight kills by Robbie Stoeckinger and Radoslav and a OSU attack error to tie the score at 21. The Buckeyes scored the next two points on a kill from Driss Guessous and an attack error and pulled away with the first set with a 25-23 score.

In the second set the Patriots jumped out to a 5-2 lead early with two straight blocks and were leading 7-3 before Ohio State rattled off seven straight points to lead 10-7. Mason would cut the lead to 18-19 before dropping the set 25-22. In the third and final set OSU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead en route to a 25-19 third set win and the match.

The Green and Gold were led by freshman Radoslav with 11 kills followed by Jack Wilson with double-digit kills at 10. Pete Cuppernull dished out a team-high 33 assists, while senior Dave Lucas defensively had a team-high nine digs, followed by Stoeckinger with six. Dom Edgley and Hunter Stevens each led Mason with three blocks.

Ohio State was led by Andrew Lutz with 16 kills and Driss Guessous added 11. Danny Baker totaled 10 digs and Lutz and Dustan Neary had three blocks apiece.

The Patriots travel to Arizona next weekend to play two matches against Grand Canyon University.