BELMONT, N.C. – The George Mason Men's Volleyball team's four-game winning streak came to an end, as the Patriots fell to Belmont Abbey College in straight sets Saturday afternoon at the Wheeler Center.
PATRIOT POINTS
- The Patriots scored more kills (37 to 32), assists (35 to 32) and digs (23 to 20), but the Crusaders outhit the Patriots .310 to .122 and made eight blocks over George Mason's one.
- Junior outside hitter Robert Evangelista led the Green & Gold with 11 kills, one shy of the game-high of 12 set by Belmont Abbey's Caden Day.
- Sophomore middle blocker Alexander Lillie recorded the team's only solo block of the game in the third set. He also had the second-most kills on the team with seven, recording no errors on 10 attempts for a .700 hitting percentage.
- Senior middle blocker Elijah Lazor also had seven kills on 12 attempts with a .417 hitting percentage.
- Junior setter Gabe Metcalf led the Patriots in assists with 16 as well as three digs.
George Mason (10-7, 2-2 EIVA) faced a tough challenge on Saturday, despite recording more kills, assists and digs than Belmont Abbey (10-2, 5-1 Conference Carolinas). The Patriots were hampered by 26 total errors throughout the match.
SET 1: George Mason - 25, Belmont Abbey - 27
The Patriots outhit the Crusaders .310 to .286, and junior outside hitter
Robert Evangelista led all scorers with seven kills, followed by senior middle blocker
Elijah Lazor and Crusader Caden Day with four.
The difference, however, were the errors. The Patriots committed 12 total errors (five service, seven attacking) compared to Belmont Abbey's eight (three service, five attacking).
George Mason jumped to an early 9-4 lead to open the game, but Belmont Abbey chipped away and went on a 13-5 tear to take a 13-17 lead. The Patriots went on a 5-1 run to retake the lead at 18-17.
The score between the Patriots and Crusaders would be tied eight times in the latter half of the set. George Mason had a chance to put Belmont Abbey away at 25-24, but Zach Puentes closed out the hard-fought set with three consecutive kills.
SET 2: George Mason - 19, Belmont Abbey - 25
The Crusaders went wire-to-wire in the second set, not once falling behind to the Patriots. George Mason could not find a rhythm on offense, hitting .071, while Belmont Abbey was hitting at a game-high clip of .400.
Belmont Abbey raced to a 10-4 lead and kept the distance to six points all the way to the end of the set. Senior outside hitter
Hayden Karpinski highlighted the Patriot offense in the set by recording his first service ace of the season. The other ace served by the Patriots was by junior opposite hitter
Jackson Herbert earlier in the first set.
SET 3: George Mason - 18, Belmont Abbey - 25
Other than a brief 4-3 Patriot lead early in the set, the Crusaders went on a 5-0 run to take the lead and never looked back.
The Crusaders benefited from a series of George Mason attack errors, fueling a 4-0 run from 6-4 to 10-4. Caden Day's decisive kills during this stretch widened Belmont Abbey's lead. Despite efforts by the Patriots, including key kills from Lillie and
Elijah Lazor, Belmont Abbey held their momentum. Both teams struggled with service errors, with the set's final point coming from a service error by
Gabe Metcalf, sealing the win for the Crusaders.
COACH'S CORNER
"Hats off to a good Belmont Abbey team," said head coach
Jay Hosack. "They took it to us and we had no response at all. We have to learn from tonight and earn respect from our opponents moving forward."
UP NEXT
George Mason will return home to the Recreation Athletics Complex (RAC) next week for two games. On Friday, March 13, the Patriots will play Barton College at 6 p.m. After a rest day the following Saturday, the Patriots will face FDU on Sunday at 2 p.m. to conclude their home-and-home season series with the Knights.
