Box Score WHO: Women's Volleyball vs Rhode Island
WHERE: Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Rhode Island 3, Mason 1
KEY PLAYERS: Sydney Fanoga – 15 kills; Jelena Cobanovic – 13 digs
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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TOTAL
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George Mason (8-15, 3-6 A-10)
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20
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25
|
27
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22
|
1
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|
Rhode Island (16-6, 6-3 A-10)
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25
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14
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29
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25
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3
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Fairfax, Va. – Despite fighting back from being a set behind once, George Mason University's women's volleyball team was unfortunate to lose a nail-biting third set against Rhode Island and to eventually drop the match against the resilient Rams in four sets.
MATCH NOTES
-Sophomore middle blocker Sydney Fanoga – the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week – continued her impressive offensive performance from the night before and finished with 15 kills, while senior outside hitter Morghan Martin and junior opposite hitter Tiffany Clarke also finished with double digits with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.
-Senior libero Jelena Cobanovic led the Patriots in the defensive effort with team-high 13 digs.
-Rhode Island also had three players with double-digit kills – junior Audrey Castro with match-high 16, senior Franki Darnold with 14 and junior Layne Self with 12.
-Two players stood out in defense for the Rams, senior Cate Seman with 16 digs and freshman Olivia Budinich with 14.
-Mason's head coach Jackie Simpson was forced to call an early timeout after Rhode Island won the first four points of the match.
-The Patriots made the most of it and returned to the court more motivated and duplicated their opponent's run to tie the set at 4 early on.
-The two teams were still tied – this time at 5 – when the Rams started an even more impactful run that gave them their highest lead of the set and forced another Mason timeout at 15-8.
-After that point, the Patriots managed to get within three points with a kill by Clarke for 17-14, but Rhode Island eventually closed the set at 25-20.
-After an even beginning, Mason was the first team to land a major blow in the second set and went on a 8-1 run to grab a 12-5 lead.
-The Patriots never let their foot off the gas and the lead kept growing, turning the set into a rout that ended with an emphatic 25-14 score line on one of Fanoga's kills.
-The Patriots found themselves in a tough situation in the third set, trailing 19-14 and out of timeouts, but tough serving from junior setter Caitlyn Hipsher forced three consecutive attack errors by Rhode Island and began a run that allowed Mason to tie the set at 20.
-A wild end to the set featured five lead changes and six tied scored before Rhode Island came out as a 29-27 winner in it despite the Patriots' set points at 24-23 and 27-26.
-Two aces by Darnold in the Rams' 3-0 run to begin the fourth set made it seem like Mason's morale had suffered a blow as a result of the outcome in the third set, but the Patriots managed to bounce back and even take the lead at 5-4.
-The strong minutes by the Patriots continued and the team managed to accumulate a four-point advantage – the highest for either team in the fourth set – at 13-9.
-Four unanswered points by Rhode Island tied the score and the two teams went into a sequence of exchanging points that took them into the closing stage of the set all square at 22.
-Rhode Island showed stronger nerves in the closing moments and won three consecutive points to win the set 25-22 and match 3-1 sets.
STAT BREAKDOWN
-The teams' attack stats reflected how close the match was in the last two sets with Rhode Island recording 57 kills on a night in which the Rams hit .216, while the Patriots put away 55 attacks while hitting .246.
-Clarke, senior middle blocker Meredith Bush, and redshirt senior middle blocker Lola Owokoniran all recorded a pair of solo blocks each to contribute to Mason's nine team blocks in the contest, while Rhode Island's eight team blocks came from 14 block assists and a solo block by sophomore Marie Gillcrist.
-The Rams showed why they are one of the best-serving teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference by recording seven aces in the match against only three for the Patriots.
NEXT ON THE COURT
-Mason steps out of A-10 play in midweek and makes the short trip to Princess Anne, Md. to face Maryland-Eastern Shore on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
