Courtesy of Teodor Handarov 

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's volleyball team continued its momentum from Thursday and defeated Grand Canyon University in straight sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-12) when the teams met for the second time on Saturday evening at the RAC gym.

Seven Mason players registered kills in the match, led by redshirt sophomore Jack Wilson with 14 on a .571 attack percentage. Wilson also had four of the team's seven aces. Redshirt junior Paco Velez had a great defensive performance and led all Patriots with 12 digs. Mason's freshman setter Brian Negron finished with 33 assists. For the opposition, Gerrard Lipscombe had a team-high eight kills while Michael Milstein had five digs.

The match started with two consecutive points by the Antelopes (13-15) with flashbacks to Thursday's match, but this time the Patriots (11-11) provided an immediate response with their serves. An ace by Velez gave Mason its first lead at 3-2 and two additional aces by Wilson early on were part of a 8-1 Mason run that gave the Patriots a five-point lead. The momentum was continued by Negron and Popov and after the latter registered Mason's fifth ace in the match at 13-7, Grand Canyon called a timeout. After the timeout, Mason's lead reached its high-point at 21-13 with a kill by Wilson. The lead was still eight at 23-15, when the Antelopes started a late 3-0 run, but the Patriots' advantage did not allow for panic and Wilson ultimately closed the set in Mason's favor with a kill for 25-19.

The Patriots carried the momentum into the second set and they built a quick three-point lead at 5-2 when Popov denied Grand Canyon's attack with a block. This lead was doubled on a block-out by Velez for 11-5 and resulted in another Antelope timeout. The lead reached seven at 17-10 on a kill by Popov, but that is when Grand Canyon enjoyed their best spell of the night – the Antelopes went on a 5-1 run, which was topped off with an ace, and thus forced coach Fred Chao's only timeout in the match at 18-15. It happened to be well-timed, because Mason quickly killed the Antelopes' momentum and won seven of the following 10 points to win the set 25-18.

Two kills by Stevens got the Patriots going early in the third set and a kill by Popov soon after gave them a 5-2 lead. Two successful plays by Grand Canyon got them within one point, but Velez restored the three-point lead at 7-4 with a kill.  It was all Mason from that point on and the scoreboard reflected that  when a kill by Wilson increased the lead to double digits at 16-6. Three substitutes – Weston Barnes, Dom Edgley, and Ryan Rosenmeier – were introduced in the set and their energy helped the Patriots wrap up the win. Edgley gave Mason its largest lead with a kill for 22-8 and moments later a kill by Rosenmeier for 25-12 gave Mason its seventh straight-set win of the season and made the team's bench go ecstatic.

Next week, Mason will travel for the first time since February and face Harvard and Sacred Heart in an EIVA double-header on Friday and Saturday.