Box Score

 
FAIRFAX, VA—NJIT had four players reach double-figure kill totals but it wasn't enough to hold off George Mason, as the Patriots pulled out a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Highlanders Saturday evening in EIVA conference action at The Rac.
 
NJIT won the first two frames, 25-17 and 25-23, but lost in the third set, 26-24 and fourth 25-16, before the Patriots took the fifth frame 20-18 for the match.
 
The win lifted George Mason to 11-14 overall, 7-5 in the conference while the Highlanders, who were coming off a 3-1 victory over No. 15 Harvard Friday night, drop to 11-16 on the season and 5-7 in the conference.
 
George Mason was led by Michael Kvidahl's match-high 20 kills and five digs. Mark Jones followed behind Kvidahl with 11 kills while Piotr Dabrowski hit .571 for the match with nine kills on 14 attempts and one error to go along with a match-high nine block assists.
 
Setter Javier Perez posted a team-high 48 assists while libero Max McFarland dug-up a match-high 28 digs defensively for George Mason.
 
The Highlanders were paced by TJ Jurko's team-high 15 kills and eight digs.  Middle Kevin Van Oss recorded 12 kills for the Highlanders while classmate Doug Battersby and freshman outside hitter Chris Kaepernick both registered 11 kills.  Battersby finished the match hitting .474 with two errors on 19 swings. 
 
Senior setter Adam Gustafson recorded a double-double on the night with a match-high 53 assists and 11 digs.  Libero Brady Smith, who is ranked second in the nation in digs per set, posted 23 digs for the Highlanders.  Jurko and Kaepernick each added eight digs.
 
Van Oss and Battersby led the match with three service aces as the Highlanders held a slight 7-5 advantage.
 
In the first frame, the Highlanders jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, led by two kills and a service ace by Battersby.  George Mason scored the next three points to knot the set at 4-4.  After a 4-4 tie, the match saw 10 ties, the final at 13-13.  The visitors rallied off four straight points taking a 17-13 lead.  After a point by George Mason, NJIT pushed its lead to 19-14 on an attack error by the Patriots.  George Mason would go on a small run of its own, pulling within three of the Highlanders, 19-16.  Jurko responded with a kill and a George Mason attack error gave the Highlanders a 21-16 lead.  NJIT finished out the set on a 4-1 run for a 25-17 victory.
 
The second set was played close early until the match hit double-digits and George Mason took a 16-12 lead after five consecutive points.  NJIT's Van Oss broke the ice with a kill and NJIT rallied for a 4-1 spurt pulling within one of the home team, 17-16, resulting in a George Mason timeout.  Neither team led by no more than two points and the match saw two ties late, the final at 22-22 after a kill by George Mason's Hunter Stevens.  NJIT closed out the frame on a 3-1 run to take the second set, 25-23.
 
George Mason took the close third set, 26-24.  George Mason held a three-point lead, 22-19, after a kill by Michael Kvidahl, but the Highlanders, battling back, scored the next two points to pull within one of the Patriots, 22-21. The set was tied at 23-23 and then 24-24 before the Patriots scored the final two points to take the set.
 
George Mason forced a fifth set after a 25-16 victory in the fourth frame.  The Patriots ahead, 20-15, finished off the set on a 5-1 run, posting a .542 hitting percentage.

In the final set of the match, George Mason's Jones paced the home team with six kills as the Patriots came away with a 20-18 victory to earn to win. 
 
NJIT held a slight lead, 9-6, after back-to-back kills resulting in a George Mason timeout.  The Patriots rallied back to tie the set at 11-11 on an NJIT attack error. 
 
After head coach Ryan McNeil called for a timeout, the home team answered with three straight points for a 13-12 lead.  NJIT head coach McNeil took his second timeout of the set to re-group his team. 
 
The Highlanders went on a quick 2-1 run for a 14-14 tie, resulting in a George Mason timeout.  The set saw four more ties, the final at 18-18 after a kill by NJIT's Kaepernick but George Mason scored the final two points of the set for the match.
 
The Highlanders, who will play their remaining two regular season matches on the road, will first travel to Princeton on April 18, for a 7pm EIVA conference match.  In the first meeting of the season (March 9) in Newark the Highlanders defeated the Tigers, 3-1.