Box Score WHO: Men's Volleyball at Pfeiffer
WHERE: Merner Gymnasium, Misenheimer, N.C.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, Pfeiffer 2
KEY PLAYERS: Paco Velez – 23 kills (career-high), 8 digs, 3 serve aces; Brian Negron – 57 assists (career-high); Johnny Gomez – 17 digs (match-high)
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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5th
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Total
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George Mason (9-10, 3-4 EIVA)
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25
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20
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22
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25
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15
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3
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Pfeiffer (11-6, 11-2 CC)
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22
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25
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25
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16
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12
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2
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Misenheimer, N.C. – Puerto Rican duo Paco Velez and Brian Negron formed an attacking connection to which Pfeiffer found no response on Saturday evening, helping George Mason University's men's volleyball team to sweep the season series against the Falcons with a 3-2 win in Misenheimer, N.C.
MATCH NOTES
-Redshirt senior opposite hitter Velez led all 17 players who featured in the contest with 23 kills, tying his career-high. Sophomore setter Negron reached his career-best feat of 57 assists for the second time in two weeks and helped junior outside hitters Christian Malias (14 kills, 6 digs) and Radoslav Popov (10 kills, .438 hitting) to double digits as well. Velez also aided the defensive efforts with 8 digs, second-best on the night to junior libero Johnny Gomez, who was everywhere his team needed him to be to grab a match-high 17 digs.
-Pfeiffer showed immense talent that clarified their dominant performance in Conference Carolinas this season. Jonathan Martinez led the Falcons with 17 kills and contributed 8 digs, while Sonny Hirini finished with a double double – 12 kills and 11 digs.
-The Falcons took the lead early on in the first set, but Mason stuck around and used a mini-run that came off back-to-back-to-back kills from redshirt freshman middle blocker Garrett Kollar, Malias and Velez to tie the score and take its biggest lead at 12-10. After that the set took the tendency of Mason pulling away by two and Pfeiffer coming back on level terms shortly after. However, as the set entered its closing stage and another kill by Kollar helped the Patriots pull ahead by two once again at 22-20, Pfeiffer took a timeout. Despite Martinez cutting Mason's lead in half with a kill after the teams returned to the court, the Falcons then drastically complicated their situation with consecutive attack errors. Soon after, another successful Negron-Velez play closed the set in Mason's favor at 25-22.
-Despite Mason grabbing seven leads early in the second set, Pfeiffer was the first team to pull away by two with a kill by Hirini for 11-9. The Falcons then scored three-straight points to force Mason's first timeout on the night at 16-12. Pfeiffer remained composed for the remainder of the set and the Patriots could only come within three at 19-16 with a kill by redshirt senior middle blocker Dom Edgley before the Falcons comfortably won the set 25-20.
-After an even start to the third set, Pfeiffer capitalized on a couple of errors by Mason to pull away by three in mid-set, 17-14. Later, consecutive kills by Popov made it 19-18, the first of three occasions in which Mason was within a point of the Falcons. Martinez then followed up on another Mason error with an ace to recover Pfeiffer's three-point lead at 24-21 and give the Falcons all the momentum they needed to close the set at 25-22 and take the lead in the match.
-Rather than losing spirit, the Patriots came out ready to fight for their lives in the fourth set. After Hirini aced to gave Pfeiffer a 7-6 lead, senior Velez stepped up and terrorized the Falcon defenders from behind the service line, sparking a 7-0 Mason run – including two aces – and switch the momentum to the Patriots' side of the net. Freshman outside hitter Kyle Barnes came off the bench to add to Pfeiffer's receiving problems and on his service sequence Mason's lead reached eight points at 21-13. Velez's third ace increased the cushion to nine for the first time at 23-14, shortly before a kill by Kollar, who finished with no errors on the night, closed the set at 25-16 and took the match to a tiebreaker.
-Mason's attacking woes in the fifth set were worsened by Hirini, whose kill gave Pfeiffer an 11-8 lead and put the Falcons in pole position to pick up their first non-conference win of the season. The Patriots, however, demonstrated great composure in the following minutes and went on a 4-0 run to take the lead on a kill by Velez, 12-11. An error by Gomez tied the set at 12, but the Falcons committed two errors themselves, off which the Patriots took a 14-12 lead. On the following play, Malias completed Mason's comeback in style by placing his jump serve perfectly down the left line to grab his 15th ace of the season for 15-12.
STAT BREAKDOWN
-Despite hitting negative in the final set, Mason committed the fewest attack errors among all five-set matches this season and recorded 62 kills to hit .302 as a team. The pressure got to Pfeiffer as well in the final set, when the -.091 to bring the Falcons' attack percentage down to .237 in the contest despite the team committing only 23 errors.
-On a night in which both teams showed defensive performances worthy of a win, the Patriots came out on top in digs, 38-35.
-Velez, Negron and Kollar had the only solo blocks in the match, but Pfeiffer showed great teamwork at the net to outblock the Patritos 11.5-7.
-The teams produced 17 serve errors apiece, but the Falcons' efforts from behind the line produced two more aces than the Patriots, 7-5.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
“Playing in another team's hous is not easy. Pfeiffer is a good team and they pushed us hard tonight. I am proud of how my guys responded and played for each other.” – Mason's head coach Jay Hosack
NEXT ON THE COURT
After over a month on the road, Mason will finally return to the RAC to welcome nationally ranked UC Irvine on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
