Box Score WHO: Women's Volleyball vs Fordham
WHERE: Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, Fordham 0
KEY PLAYERS: Meredith Bush – 8 kills, Sydney Fanoga – 7 kills; Jelena Cobanovic – 12 digs
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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TOTAL
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George Mason (8-14, 3-5 A-10)
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25
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25
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25
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3
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Fordham (8-17, 2-6 A-10)
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19
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15
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12
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0
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Fairfax, Va. – A balanced performance by the George Mason University women's volleyball team's attack and defense led to the Patriots' most dominant win of the season in a sweep of Fordham at the RAC on Friday night.
MATCH NOTES
-Two Mason players – senior Meredith Bush and sophomore middle blocker Sydney Fanoga – were flawless in attack and led the team with eight and seven kills, respectively.
-The Patriots committed only one receiving error on defense for the entire match through senior Jelena Cobanovic, who made up for it in style and led the team once again with 12 digs.
-Junior led the Rams with six kills while senior Brennan Delsing managed to impress in defense despite the loss, finishing with 12 digs as well .
-The beginning of the first set was as close as the identical conference records and both teams took turn in the lead, with neither able to establish dominance.
-Mason was first to pull away by as many as three at 8-5, but Fordham came back to level terms at 9-9.
-The Patriots provided a lightning response with three consecutive points and this time managed to retain the lead despite the Rams coming within one at 14-13.
-Another 5-0 run by the Patriots gave them a 23-16 lead in the closing stage of the set and allowed them to comfortably close the set at 25-19.
-A rare mistake by junior setter Caitlyn Hipsher, who finished with match-high 31 assists, gave the Rams a 1-0 lead in the second set, but it was short-lived because it was followed by a Fanoga kill and a serve ace by senior outside hitter Morghan Martin which put Mason in the lead.
-Later, the Rams took their second lead of the set at 12-11, but that was the last piece of good news for them in the set – Mason went on an incredible 14-3 run and needed only four serving sequences – by freshman Catie Espinoza, Cobanovic, Hipsher and Martin, respectively – to close the set at 25-15 and go into the 10-minute intermission with a two-set lead.
-The momentum stayed on Mason's side of the court in the beginning of the third set, when the Patriots quickly accumulated a five-point lead at 6-1.
-Little changed afterwards and coach Jackie Simpson's team accumulated a double-digit lead at 15-5, which allowed her to introduce some new faces to the match, such as sophomore Mara Barkley and junior Jessie Greenslade, who helped their team retain the high tempo and cruise to a 25-12 win in the set to earn their first conference win at home for the season and second consecutive conference win for the first time since September 2011.
STAT BREAKDOWN
-With the help of Bush and Fanoga's flawless performances, Mason committed only 11 attacking errors and hit .310, while the Rams committed 27 errors and hit .010 in the contest.
-Bush, Hipsher and redshirt senior middle blocker Lola Owokoniran all produced a solo block each to assist in the solid defensive effort, while Konovodoff contributed the only one for her team.
-Mason was on top in digging as well, although in a less dominant manner, 39-32.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
“I am really proud of the team's performance. We worked all week on sustaining an aggressive but low-error style of play and I couldn't be happier with their execution of the scouting report tonight.” – Mason head coach Jackie Simpson
NEXT ON THE COURT
-Mason will hope to carry the momentum from the win against Rhode Island tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the RAC.
