WHO: Women's Volleyball vs. La Salle (Senior Night)
WHERE: RAC Gym, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, La Salle 2
KEY PLAYERS: Bailey Williams – 13 kills, 27 digs (career-high), 3 blocks; Sydney Fanoga – 13 kills (career-high), 5 blocks; Tiffany Clarke – 10 kills, 7 blocks (match-high); Jessie Greenslade – 10 kills, .333 hitting; 1 service ace

FAIRFAX, Va. – It took more than two hours of play and five sets once again, but at the end of it all George Mason University's women's volleyball team earned its first Senior Night victory since 2013 and recorded its second Atlantic 10 Conference win in as many days.

MATCH NOTES

-Freshman outside hitter Bailey Williams showed no signs of Friday's offensive hesitation and finished with team-high 13 kills, a feat in which she was joined by junior middle blocker Sydney Fanoga. Williams and Fanoga had strong defensive performances as well and shifted the highlight of the night off the seniors with 27 digs – a career high for the freshman – and five blocks, respectively. Nevertheless, all three seniors topped their RAC careers with double-digit performances of some sort: outside hitter Jessie Greenslade and opposite hitter Tiffany Clarke had 10 kills apiece with the latter also contributing a match-high performance with eight blocks; setter Caitlyn Hipsher recorded 20 assists and finished with two service aces. Although Williams' defensive heroics outdid her own, sophomore libero Catie Espinoza had another great match resulting in another double-digit performance with 21 digs. Junior outside hitter Jordan Glass was Mason's third best ground defender in the contest with 10 digs.

-One of the seniors on La Salle's side of the net, Ashley Felton, led the team in attack with 14 kills on .440 hitting, which was by far the best of all the regular hitters. Devin Corah and Bryanna Davis followed the middle blocker with 13 kills each. Davis also had 11 digs and was one of the four Explorers who finished in double digits on that front along with libero Jensen Sharrits (26), Jennifer Edwards (17) and setter Kathryn Wood (15). Felton focused her defensive efforts at the net as she and Maya Barton each participated in six blocks.

-Hipsher's serving sequence and back-to-back kills from Clarke and Greenslade, respectively, allowed Mason to grab an 11-6 lead in the opening set, the largest cushion at the time. Clarke then linked up with Fanoga for a block and later added another kill to increase the Patriots' lead to six twice before an offensive miscue by Edwards for 19-13 got Mason even closer to success in the first set. What followed then was perhaps La Salle's most attackingly efficient run in the entire match as the Explorers had six kills and two aces in the following 10 plays to tie the set up at 21 all and forced the second timeout by Mason's head coach Jackie Simpson-Kirr. The stoppage of play did the job for Mason as La Salle lost its attacking edge and countered several of their successful plays with an unforced error, such as Wood's service error on the Explorers' first set point. Kills by Fanoga and Williams gave the Patriots set points at 25-24 and 26-25, but both times La Salle would come back on level terms with kills by Corah. Nerves and fatique played more and more of a role as the set progressed with each team committing error after error. An attack error by Corah gave Mason its third and final set point at 28-27, but the Patriots could not capitalize and soon after La Salle's set-winning point kill came on Wood's only kill of the match at 30-28.

-La Salle used the dramatic end to the opening set to the opening set to their advantage and got off to a better start in the second set with a kill by Davis giving the Explorers their largest lead at 11-7. Consecutive kills from Greenslade and sophomore outside hitter Maddie French cut the cushion in half and allowed the team to stick around and wait for its chance to strike. The first such strike came in the form of a 3-0 run that featured a solo block from Clarke and kills from Williams and Greenslade and which tied the set up at 14-14. After two additional tied scores, Mason managed to get in the lead at 18-17 as a result of an attack error by Felton, who then fixed the mistake with a solo block for 18-18. Kills by French and Fanoga put Mason in front by two for the first time at 20-18, but one time is all the Patriots needed because Simpson-Kirr's team were impeccable in their side-out game and managed to hold the advantage all the way until the end of the set, when another kill by French for 25-23 tied the match.

-An early 5-0 Mason run helped by Hipsher's service sequence put the Patriots ahead 7-3 and shortly after – on a kill by Williams – they entered double digits with an even larger of a lead, 10-5. Within the next 10 Mason points, the Patriots' advantage was as low as two at 13-11 and also matched its highest mark with an ace by Hipsher that made it 16-11, but either way Mason remained in control of the tempo and led by four at the 20-point mark courtesy of a Felton error. A kill by Williams picked up Mason's first set point at 24-19, but the Patriots' toughest test was still ahead as La Salle went on a late 4-0 run with the help of a couple of Corah kills to come within just a point when Barton blocked Clarke for 24-23. Despite the circumstances, junior setter Kelly Schaller decided to give the senior another chance against the Explorers' block, a gamble that Clarke rewarded with a kill to settle the set at 25-23.

-The fourth set began with a long and mentally exhausting rally that went Mason's way, but that was the Patriots' only joy for a while because La Salle went on an 8-0 run on Wood's serving sequence. The Explorers not only retained that lead but managed to add to it as well with an ace by Edwards for 15-7, which forced Mason's second timeout of the set. What Simpson-Kirr told her players during the 75-second pause will most likely remain a secret, but it sparked an incredible 12-2 run in which the Patriots had four blocks. In one of them Williams and Fanoga roofed Davis to tie the set at 17 all and two plays later Clarke single-handedly tamed Corah's attack to put her team in pole position to win the match, 19-17. Nevertheless, the Patriots' efforts of the improbable comeback ultimately came up short as the Explorers used a pair of late runs to force a fifth set just like last time the two teams met in the RAC. The first 4-0 run served to kill Mason's momentum and get back in the set while the 4-1 run that followed broke the 21-21 deadlock and closed the set at 25-22 with clutch plays from Corah and Edwards.

-The beginning of the fifth set was characterized by two lead changes and two tied scores after which Mason dealt the first serious blow when a kill apiece from Williams and Fanoga started a 4-0 run that gave the Patriots a 6-2 advantage. Unlike Duquesne on Friday, La Salle made the adjustments it needed and provided a lightning-fast 3-0 response to come back within one at 6-5, forcing Mason to call the first timeout in the set. The Explorers even tied the score twice – once before the change of sides and once immediately after – but a solo block by Williams on Davis and back-to-back kills by Greenslade, who showed that she would take nothing other than a win in her last home match, put Mason in front by three, 11-8. Solid side-out game and attack efficiency by Mason ultimately brought despair to La Salle and Sharrits granted the Patriots their second-straight victory with a service error for 15-11. Simpson-Kirr's team hit .353 in the fifth set alone and held the Explorers to .000, just like it did in the set before that.

 STAT BREAKDOWN

-La Salle had three kills more than Mason, 63-60, but it was the attacking efficiency that did the job for the Patriots, who hit .219 as opposed to the Explorers' .154 team performance.

-The Explorers had some defensive consolation as well after outdigging Mason 90-88 and winning the blocking battle by the same margin, 12-10.

-Hipsher's two aces were one fewer than Mason's total of three. La Salle's Corah had four by herself as she and her teammates combined for a total of nine direct points from service.  

NEXT ON THE COURT

On Friday the Patriots will play their first road match since Oct. 9 when they visit Fordham in the Bronx for an A-10 contest with an unusual noon start.