WHO: Women's Volleyball vs. Fordham
WHERE: RAC Gym, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Fordham 3, Mason 1
KEY PLAYERS: Tiffany Clarke – 14 kills (team-high), 2 blocks; Bailey Williams – 10 kills, 5 digs, 4 blocks; Sydney Fanoga – 10 kills, 5 digs, 3 blocks; Catie Espinoza – 23 digs (match-high), 4 assists; Mikala Wells – 12 digs

FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason University's women's volleyball had a dream start in the Atlantic 10 Conference match against Fordham on Saturday, but could not carry the momentum over and dropped the contest to the Rams in four sets.

MATCH NOTES

-Senior opposite hitter Tiffany Clarke led Mason with 14 kills on a .385 hitting performance and had two blocks. Two additional Patriots – freshman outside hitter Bailey Williams and junior middle blocker Sydney Fanoga – finished in double digits with 10 kills each. Williams and Fanoga were tied in digs as well with five each, but the freshman's four blocks on the night were one more than her teammate.

-Sophomore libero Catie Espinoza was two digs short of her career-best performance but still led all 19 players who featured in the contest with her 23 digs. The other player who contributed double digits defensively for Mason was freshman outside hitter Mikala Wells, who had 12.

-Fordham also had three players in double digits – Olivia Fairchild (24 kills), Kaitlin Morley (11) and Kristen Ostach (11) – and they combined for 46 of the Rams' 56 kills in the match. Defensive duties were more distributed as the Rams had six players with at least seven digs, three of whom in double digits: libero Morgan Williams had 16, Molly Oshinski had 10, and Morley also had 10 to pick up a double-double against the Patriots.

-A block by freshman duo Wells and middle blocker Katrina Santos got the Patriots off to a great start in the opening set and it only got better from there as two more blocks by Santos helped Mason to a 7-0 start to the set. By midset Fordham's head coach had exhausted both of her timeouts due to her team trailing by double digits, 14-4. Later Mason's head coach Jackie Simpson-Kirr had to do the same after Fordham matched her team's earlier run to get within four at 18-14. Mason's lead was even cut to three twice, but that was not enough to put any doubt in regards to the outcome of the set, because two kills and a block by Fanoga helped Mason to five unanswered points to close the set, 25-17.

-Fordham's better start to the second set materialized into a six-point lead at 14-8, but Mason's 5-1 run following a Simpson-Kirr timeout brought the Patriots within two at 15-13 and made it anyone's set to take. Senior outside hitter Jessie Greenslade completely erased her team's poor start with an ace that tied the score at 16 all, but it was followed by three-straight points by Fordham for which Fairchild contributed a kill and a block. Fairchild had another kill soon after, but it was the Ram's only point in a 5-1 Mason run that put the Patriots ahead for the first time in the set with a kill courtesy of Clarke, 21-20. Fordham's timeout could not prevent the switch of momentum and shortly after Bailey Williams made it 24-22 Mason with a kill, grabbing a double set point for the Patriots. Fordham, however, showed iron nerves and relied on Morley and Ostach in the do-or-die moments and they got the job done, helping the Rams to an incredible 4-0 run under pressure and to a 26-24 success in the second set.

-Both teams looked rusty coming out of the intermission and errors on both sides of the net prevented either team to pull ahead. As the teams entered doubled digits, Fordham cleaned up its game while Mason could not, resulting in a seven-point Ram lead, 19-12. Kills by Fanoga, Clarke, and Wells and two errors by Fairchild in the following minutes gave Mason a lifeline as the Patriots came within three at 20-17, but the Rams were again the more clinical of the two teams as the set entered the closing stage and scored five-straight points to a set lead in the match, 25-17.

-Two kills by Fairchild early in the fourth set were neutralized by Fanoga and Clarke, respectively, 2-2. That was the last time the teams were tied in the match because Fordham showed its most ruthless side in the following minutes and 12 points later led 12-4, forcing a Mason timeout after a kill by Elise Benjamin. Soon after the Rams' lead reached double digits and fluctuated between 10 and 12 as the Patriots struggled to find a response. A late spur resulted in a 4-0 Mason run and cut Fordham's advantage to seven at 20-13 and then the Patriots canceled out the Rams' first three match points, but all that did was to make the set score more presentable when Benjamin put an end to the contest with a kill for 25-19.  

 STAT BREAKDOWN

-The Patriots had a much better night offensively than against Rhode Island and hit .206 against Fordham. The Rams hit slightly better at .238, which materialized in an eight-kill difference, 56-48.

-Mason had a 9-2 block advantage going into the intermission, but Fordham managed to cut it to 10-9 by the end of the match.

-Good defense from both teams produced 128 digs in the contest and the Rams just bested Mason in splitting them, 65-63.

-Fairchild's four aces were just one short of Mason's five on the night, while Morley, Oshinski, and Williams also contributed a direct point from service for the Rams.

NEXT ON THE COURT

Mason returns to the road next week to take for another pair of A-10 matches. The Patriots will take on in-state rival VCU in Richmond, Va. on Friday and will continue their trip south afterwards for a contest at Davidson on Sunday afternoon.