WHO: No. 14 Men's Volleyball at No. 1 BYU @ AVCA Showcase
WHERE: Smith Fieldhouse, Provo, Utah
FINAL SCORE: BYU 3, Mason 1
KEY PLAYERS: Christian Malias – 16 kills (match-high), 3 aces (match-high); Johnny Gomez – 9 digs (match-hight)

Fairfax, Va. – Errors proved costly for George Mason University's men's volleyball team in the match against No. 1 BYU in the AVCA Showcase finale on Saturday, but despite the loss the Patriots managed to fight off several Cougar set points to pick up their first set of the season.  

MATCH NOTES

-Junior outside hitter Christian Malias was above all in attack with 16 kills while redshirt senior middle blocker Dom Edgley was flawless in attack and finished with career-high 7 kills through the middle. Freshman setter Justin Coleman aided the attack with 25 assists in three sets of playing time, most in his young career.

-Defensively, the Patriots were led by junior libero Johnny Gomez's match-high 9 digs.

-Tim Dobbert made his first start this season and finished with 13 kills and team-high 8 digs for the Cougars while the team's leading scorer from last season Jake Langlois added 12 kills.

-Service errors plagued Mason from the beginning of the contest and aided the Cougars grabbing a comfortable lead early in the first set, 10-5. Consecutive kills by Malias, followed by a BYU attack error, courtesy of Michael Hatch, cut the Cougars' lead to two at 11-9, the closest the Patriots got to their opponents.

-BYU went on a 9-3 run to take a more-than-comfortable 20-12 lead and was favored by the exchange of points in the closing minutes of the set, which allowed them to retain their advantage and win the opening set 25-17.

-After an error-filled start to the second set, Mason recovered and managed to grab its first of three leads early on at 5-4 through a kill by redshirt junior outside hitter Jack Wilson. The Patriots stuck around as the teams entered double digits but BYU got away from sight with an impactful 11-4 run to put the set beyond doubt before closing it out at 25-17 again.

-The beginning of the third set was characterized by the several changes to Mason's starting lineup made by head coach Jay Hosack, who introduced redshirt senior opposite hitter Paco Velez to the match. BYU started the set on a 3-0 run, but Mason was not impressed and kills by Malias and redshirt freshman middle blocker Garrett Kollar soon tied the score at 4 all.

-Mason started connecting better in attack and fought hard on defense and six lead changes and 15 tied scores later, the two teams entered the closing stage of the set all square at 20, which is when the real drama began.

-A kill by Brenden Sander gave the Cougars a match point at 24-23, but an error by BYU on the following play forced head coach Shawn Olmstead to take his first timeout of the contest. The Patriots then had to fight off two additional match points by the Cougars, but finally their moment came and they earned their first set point of the season on a block by Velez and Kollar for 27-26, resulting in another BYU timeout

-The Patriots fell victim to their serving after the teams came out of the huddle, but Velez regained the advantage with his fifth kill of the set at 28-27. A few nerve-wracking moments two set points later, Edgley and freshman outside hitter Kyle Barnes blocked Dobbert to close the set at 31-29 and open Mason's set count for the 2016 season.

-A Malias kill tied the score at 2-2 early in the fourth set, but the 5-1 run by the highly motivated BYU team set the tone for the fourth set. The Cougars doubled Mason's point count at 12-6 with a kill by Price Jarman and even reached a double-digit lead at 17-7 on their way to winning the fourth set and match at 25-12, thus maintaining their perfect record at the start of the season.

STAT BREAKDOWN

-Both teams recorded 43 kills apiece, but BYU held Mason to a season-low .132 hitting performance, while the Cougars hit .356.

-Blocking was a main component for BYU's win as the Cougars outblocked the Patriots 16-7.5.

-After digging better than No. 2 UCI on Friday, Mason outdug the top-ranked Cougars as well, albeit by a smaller margin, 26-24.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

"For our team, it's been all about the little things, the attention to detail. Although we lost the match, we gained a lot of confidence playing against the top team in the country and earning a set. It may not seem like much, but for us it was a turning point." - Mason's head coach Jay Hosack

NEXT ON THE COURT

Mason will return home to practice in their own gym for the upcoming week before heading north for a non-conference matchup against No. 6 Ohio State and their Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Associate opener at Charleston (W.V.) next weekend.