FAIRFAX, Va. – Despite multiple career-highs on the defensive side of the ball, the George Mason women's volleyball team fell to Saint Louis in a five-set battle.
 
Junior Ewelina Gacek led the Patriots (6-9, 2-1) on both sides of the ball, posting team-highs of 12 digs and 15 kills to register her first double-double of the season and fourth of her career.
 
Mason opened the match with their best hitting of the night, posting 12 total kills with just three errors. Leading by one, 8-7, the Patriots went on a short 5-1 run with kills from three different players. The Billikens (8-7, 1-2) were able to pull back within one at 16-15, but another 5-0 run led by Olyvia Kennedy at the service line put the set out of reach and the Patriots cruised to a 25-18 win.
 
With set two tied at 11-a-piece, Saint Louis went on two separate runs to pull ahead 20-13. The Billikens hit a match-best .381 and capitalized on five Mason service errors to win the second set 25-19 and tie the match.
 
In another back-and-forth set, set three featured 10 ties, the last coming at 21-21, while neither team led by more than four points. Down 21-20, Gacek registered back-to-back kills to put Mason back in front. SLU would stay within one, 23-22, but kills by Kennedy and Camille Larkin gave Mason the 25-22 win.
 
The fourth set was an offensive battle, with the teams combining for a match-high 25 kills. Five ties highlighted the middle of the match as the Patriots and Billikens forced each other into hitting errors, but a 4-0 run by Saint Louis gave it a lead late. Five kills down the stretch, with four by Delaney Rice, saw Saint Louis tie the match once again.
 
Three errors by Mason started the fifth set as Saint Louis jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. The Patriots would not go quietly however, fighting back to get within one, 9-8, on a block by freshmen Chelsea Colter and Caroline Rodriguez. That would be the closest the Patriots would get as Saint Louis finished the match on a 6-0 run en route to the A-10 victory.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Freshman Chelsea Colter led all players with a career-high eight blocks on the night
• Rookie Autumn Martinez-Robinson also posted a career-high with 11 digs for her first match posting double-figures
• Three players added nine kills to Mason's tally: Camille Larkin, Olyvia Kennedy and Caroline Rodriguez. Larkin's nine match her career-high and she tallied just one error to hit at a game-best .615
• Gabriella Gelfound tallied a team-high 26 assists to go with nine digs, six kills and four total blocks

 
UP NEXT
The Patriots will look to avenge tonight's loss tomorrow when they wrap up the weekend against the Billikens at 2 p.m. in the RAC.