PHOENIX, Arizona – The George Mason men's volleyball team win their first match of the 2014 season in another five-set thriller.

The Green and Gold won with set scores of: 28-26, 22-25, 25-14, 20-25, and 15-13.  With tonight's win, the Patriots move to 1-2, while the Antelope's drop to 4-3.

George Mason had to come from behind twice in the first set to get the win.  The Patriots didn't gain their first lead until a service ace by Hunter Stevens made the score 18-17. The Antelope's had set point at 24-23 after a kill by Connor Dougherty, forcing Mason into a timeout.  Grand Canyon went on to have two more set points, but couldn't capitalize.  Mason scored three straight points to win the set with clutch kills by Hunter Stevens, Jack Wilson, and Dom Edgley (28-26).

The Patriots had the momentum and even jumped out to a 22-20 lead in the second set.  However, the Antelope's rattled off five straight points to take the set (25-22).

George Mason jolted out to a quick lead, going up 6-1 in the third set.  The Patriots didn't look back, as they won this set easily, 25-14.  Robbie Stoeckinger led the way for Mason with four kills and a service ace in the third set.

The Antelope's were trailing the entire fourth set until two straight errors by the Patriots gave them the lead 16-15.  After trading points back and forth, Grand Canyon collected two points in a row with kills by Ben Ponnet and Keaton Berry to force the match to a fifth set (25-20).

This was the second straight match between these two opponents to go to a fifth set.  However, the Patriots clung to the lead the entire final set and went on to win their first match of the 2014 season (15-13).  Jack Wilson and Radoslav Popov slammed home three kills each in the fifth set.  Meanwhile, Pete Cuppernull and Hunter Stevens combined to block a Ben Ponnet attack to end the match.

Jack Wilson and Robbie Stoeckinger led the Patriots with 14 kills each, while Radoslav Popov also had double-digit kills with 13. Pete Cuppernull dished out a team-high 42 assists.  Meanwhile, senior Dave Lucas led the Green and Gold with 14 digs.

Ben Ponnet had a match-high 20 kills for the Antelopes.  Keith Smith also dished out a match-high 56 total assists. 

George Mason will host their first home match of the season against the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras on Thursday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m.