WHO: Men's Volleyball vs. No. 15 Saint Francis (Pa.)
WHERE: RAC Gym, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, Saint Francis 0
KEY PLAYERS: Paco Velez – 15 kills, 7 digs, 3 service aces; Christian Malias – 9 kills, 10 digs, 1 service ace

Fairfax, Va. – It wasn't as pretty and dominant as it had been in recent weeks given the resume of the opponent, but George Mason University's men's volleyball team swept No. 15 Saint Francis (Pa.) at home on Friday night to punch its ticket to next week's EIVA Championship.

MATCH NOTES

-Mason demonstrated its lowest attack efficiency of the season, but the defense took over and led the Patriots to victory. Junior libero Johnny Gomez and outside hitter Christian Malias both finished in double digits with 10 digs apiece, while three additional players had at least 7 digs – junior outside hitter Radoslav Popov (8), sophomore setter Brian Negron (8) and redshirt senior opposite hitter Paco Velez (7). Captains Velez and Malias led Mason in attack with 15 and 9 kills, respectively.

-Jeff Hogan was closest to getting to double digits offensively for the Red Flash with 9 kills and, like Malias, fell a kill short of a double-double after being most productive in defense for Saint Francis with 12 digs.

-Nerves contributed to a slow Mason start in the first set and head coach Jay Hosack had to call a timeout at 11-5 Saint Francis after only one of the Patriots' early points had come from a successful attacking play. It was a different story after the teams returned to the court, however. The Red Flash began making mistakes in attack as well and allowed the Patriots to creep in. A block by Velez and redshirt freshman middle blocker Garrett Kollar was then followed by Edgley's second ace of the set to reduce Mason's deficit to one at 14-13. Two errors by the Patriots releaved the pressure off Saint Francis temporarily, but Hosack's men kept pushing and finally tied the set at 19 all with a kill by Velez which forced a Red Flash timeout. Redshirt junior captain Jack Wilson came off the bench in style – with an ace for Mason's first lead at 20-19, which started a 4-1 run to increase the advantage to 23-20. The Red Flash was still very much in the set and showed it by going on a 4-0 run to take the first set point. Saint Francis had one more opportunity to close the opening set after Mike Marshman and Brandon Buck blocked Velez for 25-24, but soon after the redshirt senior had the last laugh when he put away the set-winning kill for 27-25.

-After another Edgley ace gave Mason its first lead of the second set at 3-2, the Patriots continued demonstrating clean attacking play early on and build a four-point lead, 10-6. Saint Francis' head coach Mike Rumbaugh called a successful timeout after which the Red Flash not only tied the score at 13-13, but also took the lead with back-to-back blocks on Popov and Kollar, 16-15. The visitors controlled the tempo, but could not add to their lead and two-straight points were enough for Mason to regain the lead at 21-20, again on a kill by Velez. An attack error on Hogan granted the Patriots with a double set point at 24-22, which they could not capitalize on. Momentum then seemed to have switched over to the other side of the net when Keith Kegerreis aced for a Saint Francis set point at 26-25, but Hosack called a timeout to break the server's concentration, a strategy that reaped success. The pressure in the final minutes resulted in three more combined service errors by both teams until Velez took matter to his own hands and aced for 30-28 to win the set for Mason and earn himself a standing ovation from around the RAC.

-The third set began in a most evenly matched fashion until the Red Flash took the first two-point lead of the set at 13-11 with a block by Kegerreis and Xavier Krause. The situation forced Hosack to burn one of his timeouts. Only three points later, the teams were back to their huddles, this time at Rumbaugh's expense, after two attack errors by Saint Francis and a kill by Velez had given Mason the lead, 14-13. With the teams later tied at 15, the Patriots went on an even more impressive run to take a 21-16 lead with a block by Kollar and Negron. The timeout that followed did well to recover the mentality of the Saint Francis players and the Red Flash made a run itself to get within one at 22-21, but two kills by Wilson, who had just returned to the court, and a solo block by Popov completed the sweep at 25-22 and sealed the Patriots' first win over a ranked opponent in 2016.

STAT BREAKDOWN

-Mason hit only .115 as a team, slightly lower than Saint Francis' .175 hitting percentage, but recorded more kills than the Red Flash, 38-32.

-The Patriots' came out on top in digs as well, by an even larger margin, 45-39.

-Seniors Velez and Edgley recorded three aces apiece and the rest of the team added as many for Mason's 9 aces on the night. Saint Francis' 5 aces came from five different players.

-Popov's two solo blocks contributed to 7 team blocks in the match. Saint Francis showed good chemistry at the net and although it had only two solo blocks combined, the visitors racked up 16 block assists for 10 team blocks.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

“I am proud of our tenacity and poise through. We didn't play the cleanest volleyball tonight, but we dug in and refused to lose. That will pay off dividends for us later in the year.” – Mason's head coach Jay Hosack

NEXT ON THE COURT

Mason closes out regular season tomorrow night against No. 9 Penn State on Velez's and Edgley's Senior Night.