LOS ANGELES – George Mason University's men's volleyball team continued its winless streak against No. 12 USC Monday night by falling to the Trojans in straight sets in a non-conference battle that completed the Patriots' West coast trip.

Even though Mason (8-11) outblocked USC (8-12) 5.5-2 and had just four kills fewer than its ranked opponent (39-35), the flow of Monday's match resembled Friday's loss to No. 2 Long Beach State much more than Saturday's memorable sweep over No. 11 Cal State Northridge. The Patriots never led in L.A. and was on level terms with USC only seven times on the night, four of those occasions coming early in the sets, while both teams were in single digits.

"We did not execute at a level that we needed to be successful," Mason head coach Jay Hosack said. "We need to be more consistent against good teams. The second [set] we played better but we still need to find our heart."

In the second set, Mason and USC were locked at 13 all before the Trojans went on a 7-2 run to grab a five-point lead going into the decisive stage of the set. Three-straight points by Mason, however, cut that lead to two at 22-20 and forced USC's only timeout in the contest. The Patriots continued to push and a kill by redshirt senior middle blocker Graham Gresham brought them within one at 24-23, but a service error put an end to the late raid, 25-23 USC.

Gresham was Mason's primary offensive threat in the match, finishing with career-high 12 kills. He had half of those in the second set alone and largely contributed to Mason hitting .600 in the stanza – best by either team in the match. At the same time, USC held Mason to one of the most modest ground-defense performances in program history, allowing the Patriots to grab only six digs in the entire match.

MATCH NOTES

-Gresham hit .625 on the night, best among all three Patriots who had double-digit swings. Only junior setter Brian Negron was more efficient than the middle blocker after turning four of his six attack attempts into kills for a .667 hitting percentage.

-Freshman opposite hitter Hayden Wagner came off the bench and picked up seven kills, second-most by a Mason player on the night.

-Senior libero Johnny Gomez had half of Mason's digs on the night, but that still marked the second-fewest this season for the nation's leading digger for 2016.

-Mason was much more efficient defensively at the net with Gresham, Wagner and freshman opposite hitter Bradley Creamer contributing team-high two blocks. The former two were also credited with the only two solo blocks in the match by either team.

- Gianluca Grasso paced USC with match-high 14 kills. His teammate Connor Inlow followed with eight kills. Inlow achieved the feat on nine total attempts for match-best hitting percentage of .778.

-Mason remains winless against USC as the Trojans now lead the all-time series 8-0.

NEXT ON THE COURT

The Patriots will get to enjoy the remainder of spring break and will return on the court on March 24 to complete their non-conference schedule against Barton at home. The following night, Mason will enter the final stretch of conference play against Charleston (W.Va.).