Courtesy of Teodor Handarov

FORT WAYNE, In. – The George Mason men's volleyball team fell to #10 Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-18) on the road on Friday night.

Redshirt junior Paco Velez was the only Mason player who finished the night with double-digit kills with 10 and added two service aces. Redshirt sophomore Jack Wilson and sophomore Radoslav Popov registered nine and eight kills, respectively. Andrew Sellan registered 11 kills for the Mastodons (9-2) and contributed three of the team's five aces of the match. The Patriots (1-6) showed balance in their defensive efforts as well by having four players who contributed at least five digs, led by sophomore Christian Malias with nine. Luis Bertran from the home team led all players in this component with 12. Freshman Brian Negron registered 30 assists on the night for the Patriots, just two short of his counterpart Omar Rivera.

The Patriots took an early 3-2 lead in the first set on an attack error by the Mastodons, but the Mastodons turned the momentum around and made the first significant run in the match that gave them a three-point lead at 11-8. Good minutes for Mason followed and the team tied the score at 12 with a block by senior captain Hunter Stevens. IPFW again increased the lead by three later in the set, but the Patriots clawed their way back on a good serve sequence from Velez and tied the score at 19 through Stevens again, this time with a kill. The Mastodons came out stronger from the timeout that followed and used that momentum to close the first set at 25-23.

This momentum carried into the beginning of the second set and IPFW grabbed a 5-1 lead, forcing coach Chao to call a timeout. The Mastodons maintained their comfortable lead until 8-4, but then the momentum started to shift. The Patriots showed a lot of character in the following minutes and came within one point on seven occasions, but IPFW held to their lead and even managed to capitalize on Mason errors to increase it to three at 19-16. IPFW's run continued despite another Mason timeout and they gained a set-high five-point lead. The Patriots cut it to three later on, but the Mastodons ultimately won the set 25-21.

The third set started in a similar fashion as the second and coach Chao had to gather his players around on another four-point IPFW lead at 10-6. This time, however, the impact from the timeout was more immediate for the Patriots and they went on to tie the score on a 4-0 run prompted by Velez's kill and his serve sequence that followed. This was as close as the third set was, however, because the Mastodons quickly regained a comfortable lead that – despite being temporarily cut to two at 19-17 – gradually grew for a final score of 25-18 in favor of IPFW.

Mason closes its weekend in Indiana with a Saturday night match against #13 Ball State University. First serve is at 7:30 p.m.