FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's volleyball team (10-11, 5-6 EIVA) earned a five set (31-33, 27-25, 18-25, 25-23, 18-16) victory against St. Francis Brooklyn (8-9, 3-7 EIVA) on Saturday night inside the RAC.
 
Mason took the early lead over the Terriers, leading by as much as seven points during several points of the game. St. Francis Brooklyn then stormed back to tie the set 21-21. The Patriots and the Terriers then went point for point from then on before St. Francis Brooklyn came away with the 33-31 win in the first set. This is the second match in a row where Mason has gone over 30 points in the first set of play.
 
In the second set, Mason took an early lead again before St. Francis Brooklyn tied it at 6-6. Back-to-back blocks from redshirt sophomore Jack Bolz and sophomore Sam Peters as well as a service ace from sophomore Omar Hoyos forced the Terriers to take an early timeout at the 5-2-point mark. Each team went point for point for the remainder of the set with the largest margin being three points. Mason eventually came away with the 27-25 win in the second game from a solo block from Hoyos.
 
After a heavily animated second game, St. Francis Brooklyn come out with the early lead before the Patriots came back to tie it at the 3-3 mark. Both teams went point for point with the last tie being at the 16-16 mark. The Terriers quickly pulled away from Mason, coming away with the 25-18 win in the third game.
 
Coming off a strong third set, St. Francis Brooklyn took a significant lead early on, but not before the Patriots were able to push themselves on the offensive end to tie the game at the 7-7 mark. Each team took the lead at several points in what would've been the decisive fourth set before the game hit a tie at the 22-22 mark. Mason set the match point at 24-22, but the Terriers took a timeout to prevent the Patriots from taking the game. Both teams exchanged service errors, allowing Mason to come away with the 25-23 win and forcing a fifth game.
 
Both Mason and St. Francis Brooklyn came into the fifth set with determination. After the Terriers earned the first point, the game immediately went point to point before each team exchanged having the lead. The Patriots fought hard to tie the final game of the match at 16-16 before a Bolz kill and an attack error on the Terriers earned Mason the 18-16 win in the set and 3-2 win in the match. This is the second time this season where the match between Mason and St. Francis Brooklyn has been decided by a fifth set.
 
"Hats off to SFCB, they play with a lot of heart," said Head Coach Jay Hosack. "We came out hot but let our foot off the gas and they took advantage of it. I'm glad we found a way to win, but if we just stay disciplined and execute how we do in spurts all the time, we will be in better spots. We will learn from this win for sure."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Redshirt sophomore Jack Bolz led the offensive momentum for the Patriots, tallying match highs and team highs in kills (22).
• This is a new career high in kills for Bolz.
• Sophomore Omar Hoyos also tallied double digit kills, recording 11 in the match.
• Sophomore Sam Peters had a strong offensive and defensive performance, recording a hitting percentage of 0.600 (11 kills on 15 attempts, two errors) and led the match in blocks, tallying six in five played.
• Sophomore Collin Heath and Hoyos led the team on the defensive end, both tallying a team high in digs (15).
• Four Patriots tallied double digit digs.
• Freshman Troy McDonald led the match and team in assists, recording 56 in the match.
• This is a new career high for McDonald in assists.
• The Patriots tallied 13.5 total blocks in the match.
• St. Francis Brooklyn outhit Mason, 19.0 percent to the Patriots' 17.0 percent.
• Mason tallied 61 kills to St. Francis Brooklyn's 64.
• Mason recorded four service aces while St. Francis Brooklyn tallied seven.

 
UP NEXT
 
Mason will travel to EIVA foe Charleston (WVa.) for a weekend series Apr. 1-2 with first serve on Friday Apr. 1 set for 7 p.m.