April 14, 2007

Box Score

The George Mason men's volleyball team celebrated Senior Night on Saturday and the Patriots made it a festive occasion as they downed Princeton, 30-28, 30-24, 30-24 to clinch the third seed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament. The Patriots (11-9, 7-5) will play on Saturday against a to-be-determined opponent. That match will be at John Linn Memorial Gym at a time to-be-determined.

Mason hit .319 in the match while Princeton managed just a .241 hitting percentage. The Tigers did compile 44 digs, helping them stay in the match. William Price led the team with 17 kills and a .441 hitting percentage while Kyle Gramit had 14 kills while hitting .355. Senior Graham Sheppard had eight digs and two kills while fellow senior Kyle Swanson had six kills while hitting .364. Senior Billy Freesmeier had one service ace off the bench. Mark Burik had 12 digs.

The teams had identical hitting stats in the first game with 19 kills and a .318 hitting percentage. The game was tight until the end, tied 27-27 before Gramit had a kill and Peter Eichler had an attack error for Princeton to put Mason ahead 29-27. After a Princeton kill, Eichler served the ball into the net to give Mason the opening game.

The second game was close early, with Mason clinging to an 11-10 lead. The Patriots then went on an 8-1 run to go up 19-12 as Swanson and Price each had two kills. Mason's hitting percentage dropped to .235 in the game but Princeton's plummeted to .079 as the Patriots had little trouble putting the game away and going ahead 2-0.

The final game saw the two teams tied at 20-20 before Mason won 10 of the final 14 points. Price had three kills and Gramit and Sheppard each had a kill as Mason was able to seal the win and get the Senior Night victory. Mason will enter the EIVA Tournament next weekend having won five of its past seven matches.