Courtesy of Teodor Handarov

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's volleyball team continued its fine form with a tough 3-2 (27-25, 22-25, 25-17, 20-25, 15-11) win over Sacred Heart University on Friday night at the RAC gym in their first five-set match this season. The win was third-straight for Mason and sixth in the last seven matches.

The two-hour match was long enough for three Patriots to finish with double-digit kills: sophomore Radoslav Popov (19), redshirt junior Paco Velez (16) and redshirt freshman Jack Wilson (10). Velez also had a stellar defensive performance and finished with 17 digs, while sophomore libero Christian Malias also reached double-digits with his 12. The freshman setter Brian Negron provided 52 assists. For the Pioneers, four attacking players finished with double digits, led by Enzo Mackenzie with 21, and three finished with double-digit digs, led by AJ Logosh with 13.

A Mackenzie ace gave the Pioneers (1-5 EIVA, 10-9) a 6-4 lead early in the first set, but Velez responded with one of his own later on to give the Patriots (3-2 EIVA, 8-9) a 10-9 lead, the first since 1-0. An attack error by Sacred Heart soon after gave Mason a 13-10 advantage, and even though the Pioneers managed to get within one point, the three-point lead remained until 18-15. Then came a 4-0 run by the Pioneers, which set the stage for a dramatic end to the first set. The two teams exchanged leads three times from that point and even though they were losing 22-20 and 23-22 after that, the Patriots got to a set point first at 24-23 with a block by sophomore Graham Gresham, after Negron had tied the score with a kill. Although Mason could not close out the set on the following play, serve errors on part of Sacred Heart gave the Patriots two additional set points, but it wasn't until an attacker from the Pioneers sent the ball in out that the Patriots celebrated winning the first set 27-25.

The Pioneers started the second set on a 4-1 run and that left Mason trailing for the most of the set. The Patriots came within one point on multiple occasions early in the set, but before they could tie the score, Sacred Heart increased the margin to four at 14-10. Coach Chao called for a timeout and coming out of it, Mason went on a mini-run to come within one again on a kill by Gresham to make it 14-13. Even though Sacred Heart held the lead temporarily, the Patriots finally came on level terms at 16 after two Pioneer errors and a block-out by Velez; and even took their first lead of the set at 17-16 with an ace by Wilson. After the Sacred Heart timeout that followed, the Pioneers managed to regain the lead at 19-18 and increased it to three at 23-20 before comfortably closing out the set at 25-22.

After a good start by the Pioneers in the third set, two consecutive kills by Popov tied the score and Mason took their first lead in the set at 4-3. Two incredible digs on the following play not only allowed Mason to increase their lead but to also gain the momentum for the rest of the set. Back-to-back blocks by Gresham increased the lead to four at 8-4 and immediately after the resulting Sacred Heart timeout, it grew to six. An ace by Popov made the score 18-11 and on the following play Mason's Puerto Rican connection Velez-Negron increased the lead to eight when Velez jumped into the advertisement panels to dig a ball and Negron reacted quickest in the situation and immediately tipped it over the net for a kill, making one of the highlights of the match.  Later, Negron made the score 22-13 with an ace and even though Sacred Heart slowed the Patriots' momentum down by winning three of the following points, Mason still won the set 25-17.

The fourth set went the opposite way. Sacred Heart took a comfortable 8-2 lead early in the set, which was their largest of the match, and led for the majority of it. Even though Mason fought hard to tie the score at 13 on an ace by Popov, the Pioneers quickly regained the lead. Mason kept pushing while trailing by two, but after Mackenzie made the score 19-16 with an ace, the Patriots could not respond and Sacred Heart managed to tie their highest lead at 24-18 before winning the set 25-20.

In the fifth and final set, Mason was the first team to lead by two when it made a 4-2 run. The Patriots' domination continued and when the teams switched sides according to protocol, they led 8-3. The lead reached six at 11-5 and later at 14-8. A 3-0 run by the Pioneers forced coach Chao to take a timeout and set up a match-point play, but it was not executed, because Mason's win came on a serve error immediately after the timeout at 15-11 to win in five sets.

Mason will have the chance to build on the good result on Saturday, when it hosts Harvard. First serve is at 3 p.m.