PRINCETON, N.J. – The George Mason men's volleyball team (13-12, 7-7 EIVA) fell in three sets (16-25, 21-25, 19-25) to Princeton (10-12, 8-6 EIVA) on Saturday night inside Dillon Gymnasium.
Mason started the match with a 4-0 disadvantage and was forced to take a timeout at the 7-2-point mark. Princeton added to their total, forcing Mason to take their final timeout early on in the first set at the 15-8-point mark. The Patriots were able to add more points to the board to force a Princeton timeout at the 21-14-point mark before the Tigers went on to win the set 25-16.
The Patriots came out stronger in the second set than they did in their first set, starting it off with back-and-forth rallies. Princeton would take their largest lead of the game at the 14-11-point mark. Mason was able to tie the game again at the 19-19-point mark before the Tigers were able to take the win in the second game 25-21.
Mason, looking to avenge their losses in the first two games of the match, put in a whole new six-person lineup to start the game. Despite the change, the Patriots started off with the same disadvantage they did in the first set. Princeton took a nine-point lead at the 18-9-point mark before being forced to take a timeout at the 18-12-point mark. After the Tigers took another large lead over the Patriots, Mason stormed back to add seven more points to their column but not before Princeton took the 25-19 set win.
"I am disappointed with the level of compete and execution by our team tonight," said Head Coach
Jay Hosack. "Our team did not represent the great work that we had put in the last few weeks, and I stead came out flat. We missed an opportunity tonight. Hopefully, we figure that out next weekend."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Redshirt sophomore Jack Bolz led the offensive momentum for the Patriots, tallying a team high in kills (8).
- Redshirt sophomore Eamonn Testerman led the team in hitting percentage, recording a 0.500 mark (four kills on six attempts with one error).
- Both Testerman and redshirt sophomore Chey Cooper recorded four kills in the match.
- Graduate student Brady Rosen led the team in service aces, tallying two.
- Senior Richie Hoff led the team on the defensive end, tallying a team high in digs (5).
- Redshirt junior Zach Talamoa led the team in assists, recording 14 in the match.
- Freshman Lucas Little led the match in blocks, tallying three in the match.
- Little went a perfect 9-for-9 at the service line while adding a service ace.
- Princeton outhit Mason, 37.5 percent to the Patriots' 15.5 percent.
- Mason tallied 30 kills and Princeton tallied 38 kills in the match.
- Mason recorded three service aces while Princeton tallied eight.
UP NEXT
Mason will return home for the final weekend of the regular season Apr. 15-16 to host Harvard for a two-game series, with first serve slated for 7 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
