FAIRFAX, Virginia – The George Mason men's volleyball team win in straight sets against the visiting NJIT Highlanders.  This is the first EIVA win of the season for the Patriots.

The Patriots won with set scores of 25-22, 25-19, and 25-18.  With tonight's victory, the Green and Gold improve to 5-6 on the season, while NJIT drops to 4-5.

The first set was the most closely contested set of the entire match, including seven ties.  The Patriots were trailing until an attack error and service error by the Highlanders and a kill by Jonathan Lutz gave Mason a two-point lead (20-18).  After going back and forth a few more times, the Patriots finally won after three straight errors from NJIT (25-22).

The second set was all Mason.  The Green and Gold jumped out to an early lead and won the first point of the set thanks to a kill by Graham Gresham.  The Patriots did not give up the lead for the entire set.  Consecutive kills by Gresham, Christian Malias, and Jack Wilson gave the Patriots a five-point lead at 15-10.  Mason went on to win this second set easily 25-19.

The Patriots dominated the third and final set.  After going down 2-1 early, Mason took 10 out of the next 15 points to get a four-point lead thanks in part to nine errors by the Highlanders (11-7).  The Patriots did not look back from there, going on to win the set 25-18 to sweep the Highlanders.

Hunter Stevens and Jack Wilson had huge matches for the Patriots, getting nine and 13 kills respectively.  Stevens posted a .562 attack percentage, while Wilson posted a team best .600 attack percentage.  Stevens and Wilson also combined for 10 total blocks. Jonathan Lutz was also in double-digit kills, finishing with 10.  Senior, Joe Heim dished out a match-best 39 assists.  Meanwhile, Dave Lucas led the defense with a match-best 11 digs.

TJ Jurko and Jabarry Goodridge led the Highlanders with 12 and 10 total kills.  Meanwhile, Zak Robben dished out a team-best 22 assists.  Oren Zyndrof led NJIT on defense, grabbing nine digs. 

Up next: The Patriots host EIVA opponent Rutgers-Newark tomorrow night at the RAC.  The Green and Gold will take on the Scarlet Raiders at 7:00 p.m.