Courtesy of Teodor Handarov 

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The George Mason men's volleyball team fell at Harvard University in four sets (25-18, 18-25, 25-19, 25-15) on Friday night.

On a night in which Mason's hitters could not find their usual selves, only redshirt junior Paco Velez finished with double-digit kills – 10. This did not affect sophomore libero Christian Malias' performance, however, and he led the Patriots with nine digs, while four of his teammates finished with four digs each. For the Crimson, DJ White and Branden Clemens were above all in attack, finishing with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while Marko Kostich accumulated 10 digs.

The beginning of the first set featured an exchange of leads between the Patriots (11-12, 4-5 EIVA) and the Crimson (12-11, 6-5 EIVA). Mason pulled up twice – at 3-2 and 7-6 – on attack errors by Harvard, but the home team managed to get back in it both times and on the second occasion managed to build a two-point lead at 12-10, which forced the Patriots to call a timeout. Mason's response was immediate right out of the huddle, and they won three consecutive points to retake the lead at 13-12. The point exchange continued and it was again the Crimson who pulled away at 19-17. This time the Patriots could not find a timely response and Harvard's run continued after the timeout to extend the lead to 22-17. The momentum allowed Harvard to close the set comfortably at 25-18.

In the beginning of the second set, sophomore Radoslav Popov grabbed Mason's first block of the match to give his team a 5-3 lead. The lead extended to three on the next play, but Harvard tied the score at seven. Mason regained the lead immediately with a kill by redshirt junior Dom Edgley, which started a 8-1 run by the Patriots, which gave them their largest lead of the match at 15-8. The Crimson made a decent run to get back in the set and cut the lead to three at 16-13. However, several key plays, including Popov's single-handed block, put the momentum back in Mason's hands and they finished the set on a high note, ultimately winning it 25-18 with an ace by Velez.

For the third time in the match, senior Hunter Stevens got Mason's first kill of the set, this time to cut Harvard's early 2-0 lead in half. An ace by redshirt sophomore Jack Wilson tied the score immediately after and not long before the Patriots took their first lead of the set when an attack error by the Crimson made it 4-3. Although another block by Popov doubled the lead to 5-3, the Crimson tied the score at 6. This was the first of five times when the home team erased the Patriots' lead, the last time at 12. Then, the home team took its first lead since 2-0 and tied that tied that margin at 14-12 to force a Mason timeout. A block by Edgley tied it for the Patriots at 14, but that was the last time the two teams were on level terms. Strong play by Harvard resulted in a five-point lead at 21-16, and eventually ended in Harvard's favor at 25-19.

An ace by Velez gave Mason a 3-0 lead early in the fourth set and this advantage was matched with a block by Stevens for 4-1. Harvard responded with a 6-0 run to turn the momentum in its favor and the Patriots never found an adequate response for it. The Crimson's lead gradually grew and reached nine points at 17-8. The Patriots managed to avoid a double-digit lead by its opposition on several occasions and got as close as 22-15 on an ace by Popov. Harvard won the last three points of the match, however, to end the match 25-15..

Before heading back to Fairfax, Mason visits Sacred Heart tomorrow for a match at 4 p.m.