IRVINE, Calif. – The George Mason men's volleyball team (7-10, 2-5 EIVA) went down fighting before falling in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 17-25) against UC Irvine (7-9, 2-2 MPSF) on Saturday night inside Bren Events Center.
Mason, down at the beginning of every set, clawed their way back in all four sets to tie the match or take the lead. In similar fashion to the first two matches of the trip, the Patriots went point for point with the Anteaters.
The Patriots efforts were not enough to take the wins in the first, third, or fourth sets, but their win in the second set was a huge momentum shift for Mason. The fight shown over the last three days showed that this team can hang with these strong Californian teams despite the outcome.
"I know we didn't win the match, but the energy we established last night was carried over and improved upon tonight," said Head Coach
Jay Hosack. "UC Irvine is a well-trained, very good team. Tonight, we took steps to become the same thing."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Senior Richie Hoff led the team in kills (13) and service aces (3).
- Sophomore Omar Hoyos helped lead the team offensively and defensively, earning a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs.
- Freshman Lucas Little led the team in hitting percentage, hitting 0.462 with seven kills on 13 attempts with one error.
- Little led the team in blocks (7).
- Redshirt sophomore Chey Cooper had an all-around standout performance recording 10 kills, two service aces, five blocks, and eight digs.
- Two Patriots tallied four kills in the loss.
- Freshman Troy McDonald set a team high of 39 assists.
- UC Irvine outhit Mason, 25.5 percent to the Patriots' 23.0 percent.
- Mason tallied 50 kills to UC Irvine's 47.
- UC Irvine recorded 10 service aces to Mason's four.
UP NEXT
Mason will resume conference play at home with a match against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Friday Mar. 18 at 7 p.m. and a match against No. 4 Penn State on Sunday, Mar. 20 at 3 p.m. The match against the Nittany Lions will be played inside EagleBank Arena.
