March 19, 2005

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, CALIF.- The #1 California Baptist University men's volleyball team had 11 service aces in its sweep of NCAA Division I #15 George Mason at Van Dyne Gymnasium Thursday night.

The Lancers (18-6) hit .361 in the 30-15, 30-20, 30-21 win that only took an hour and six minutes to play. The Patriots (15-6) had a miserable night, hitting .000, including a -.304 hitting percentage in the first game. The match was CBU's eighth home contest since March 5. The Lancers have gone 6-2 during that stretch, and still have two more matches to play before their next road game next Friday (March 26) at UC Santa Barbara.

Senior middle blocker Sergio Rose (Curitiba, Brazil/Tabajara HS/UFPR) hit .833 (5-0-6) and added five blocks to lead CBU, while senior middle blocker Tim Layton (Anaheim, CA/Whittier Christian HS/BYU) had eight kills and hit .700 (8-1-10). Sophomore outside hitter Shamsu Awudu (Accra, Ghana/West Africa Secondary School) also had eight kills on 13 attempts for the Lancers.

Six service aces from junior outside hitter Seidu Ajanako (Accra, Ghana/Nungua Secondary School) neared the CBU record for aces in a three-game match (7), and the Lancers came three aces away from breaking the school record of 14 aces, with 11 on the night.

Senior outside hitter Felix Campos (Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Rico) had nine kills to lead George Mason, which had only 4 1/2 blocks, compared with CBU's 9 1/2. Junior opposite hitter Shaun Powell added seven kills for the Patriots.

The Lancers had a modest 14-8 lead in game one, until a 10-2 run, fueled by six George Mason attack errors, stretched the CBU lead to 24-10. CBU, which hit only .250 (8-4-16) in the game, had all the help they needed to win game one, 30-15, with 13 attack errors from the Patriots.

A George Mason error with the score at 13-10 CBU in a game two put the Lancers on a 7-2 rally that made the score 20-12. The run featured two aces in a row from Ajanako, who had three digs and two block assists in the game. Awudu added four kills on six game-two attempts, as the Lancers went ahead two games to none with a 30-20 score.

The third game was by far the closest of the three, as the score was tied at 10-10. But, CBU's .526 (11-1-19) hitting mark, coupled with George Mason's .154 (13-9-26) clip allowed the Lancers to pull ahead and sustain a comfortable lead as the game progressed. CBU led by as much as eight points, at 26-18, en route to a 30-21 game three win.

The Patriots return home from their three-match road trip and will take on Mount Olive College on Friday night.