FINAL: Mason 3, NJIT 1 (PDF Box Score)
Wagner – 15 kills; Velez 45 assists; Calaman – 11 digs
FAIRFAX, Va. – In its final regular season home match, No. 13 George Mason men's volleyball bounced back with a 3-1 win over NJIT on Saturday night. The Patriots improve to 14-7 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
"Very proud of our boys tonight," said head coach
Jay Hosack. "Once again we responded after a loss and played very scrappy volleyball against a very good NJIT team. We are long from over though."
After Mason honored its six seniors, the Patriots wasted no time to get work in the first set. Two service aces by Wagner and Greenslade gave Mason the 11-9 early advantage. Once again, Greenslade stepped up with back-to-back kills, extending Mason's lead, 18-15. Later in the set, NJIT responded to Mason's 4-0 scoring run with three straight points. The Patriots grinded out the final points to claim the set, 25-21.
NJIT responded with the second set win, 25-23. The Patriots looked to be in the driver's seat as they used a 3-0 scoring run to take the lead, 15-13. However, the Highlanders slowly chipped away at the lead until a 4-1 run put NJIT on top, 21-20. The Highlanders scored three of the final four points to even the match.
Wagner came alive in the third set, tabbing five kills and lifting Mason's offense to the third stanza victory, 25-20. He also added two of his four service aces in the set. The Patriots fought off a late surge by the Highlanders, holding a 23-18 late.
Kyle Barnes put the set away with the final kill, 25-20.
In the fourth and final set, NJIT used a 3-0 scoring run to take an early 15-12 advantage. Wagner responded with his serving, guiding Mason to four straight points, evening the score 16 all. Mason finished the set scoring four of the final five points to win 25-22.
It was a total team win as three Patriots recorded double-digit kills – Wagner (15k), Barnes (13k) and Greenslade (11k). Velez dished out a career-high 45 assists while
Will Calaman notched 11 digs.
Langston Payne and
Jack Reese each tabbed four blocks in the 3-1 victory.
NOTABLE STATS
- Wagner, Reese and Payne each notched four blocks.
- Mason held a commanding advantage in digs, 41 to 32.
- Serving once again played a role with 32 combined service errors. Mason, however, registered eight service aces to NJIT's four.
