FAIRFAX, Va. – The Patriots suffered a tough defeat to Purdue Fort Wayne in five sets.
Coming off their first win, the Patriots looked ready to dominate again in the first set. They jumped out to a 7-4 lead and even after a 5-0 run by the Mastodons they quickly got the lead back with three straight points of their own. The Mastodons never took the lead again (25-20). Five Patriots tallied kills in the set and had 4.5 blocks to the Mastodons one.
The second appeared to be more of the same as the Patriots were ahead 15-11, and then 21-18. The Mastodons subbed in Davey Singer, and they were able to go on a 7-1 run to win the set 25-22. The Mastodons conjured up six blocks to the Patriots zero.
The Patriots narrowly escaped the third as both teams fought off multiple set points. The score went back and forth point after point. Each team only sustained one run of three points. The Patriots notched 19 kills, which was five more then the Mastodons.
Omar Hoyos led with seven kills and
Jack Bolz had six.
The Patriots had a chance to win either of the last sets but were unable to hang on. In the fourth, the Patriots led 16-13 but a 5-0 run by the Mastodons was too much to overcome (25-22). The same happened in the fifth. After securing an 8-4 and then 11-8 lead, the Mastodons roared back to take six of the last eight points (17-15).
By the Numbers
Up Next
The Patriots will take on NJIT next Sunday at 2:00 P.M. in Newark, N.J.
