Box Score NEWARK, NJ—Visiting George Mason lost the first set to host NJIT, 26-28, but the Patriots rebounded to sweep the next three competitive sets (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) in Saturday afternoon Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association men's action in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The win lifts George Mason to 7-5 in the EIVA and 13-11 overall. The Patriots have won five of their last six matches with the only defeat in that span coming on the road vs. 15-time defending EIVA champ Penn State, which is tied for 12th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national Division I/II poll. Indeed, all four Mason losses since March 1 have come against ranked teams—Penn State twice; #1 Loyola University-Chicago on March 13 and at #11 Lewis a day after that.
NJIT is 2-9 in the EIVA and 8-15 overall after falling to George Mason.
GMU showed a balanced attack Saturday, with four players posting double-figure totals in kills, led by redshirt sophomore Paco Velez, who had 14 kills. Freshman Radoslav Popov and junior Hunter Stevens followed closely, with each man notching 13 kills. Senior Jonathan Lutz did not appear in the opening set, but he entered for the second set and factored in the rest of the way, finishing with 10 kills in three sets played. Senior setter Joe Heim piled up 46 assists to trigger the Mason offense.
George Mason served eight aces as a team, paced by three for Lutz and two for Velez.
On defense, the visitors got 11 digs from senior libero Dave Lucas and Popov, a freshman from Bulgaria, added 10 digs. The Patriots, who had a slender 10.5-to-10 edge in total team blocks, got six block assists from the 6-foot-8 junior Stevens and four block assists apiece from Velez and the Heim, the setter.
NJIT junior
Kajetan Borecki was terrific all-around in the defeat, postinga match-leading 16 kills, a match-best 12 digs and five blocks (3 solo, 2 assisted).
Borecki had his third offense-defense double-double of the season, with the 16 kills coming one shy of his season high (17) and four short of his NJIT career-best 20 kills last season vs. Harvard. His 3 block solos vs. GMU were his best as a Highlander and his 5 total blocks came two short of his career-best 7 (1 BS, 6 BA) in that 2013 match vs. Harvard.
Borecki got his 16 kills on 38 swings, with only four errors (.316 hitting percentage). The other Highlander with double-figure kills was middle
Ryan Thomas, who put down 10, with only one error, in 14 tries (.643 attack percentage).
Raphael Anthony also hit well (9 kills, 1 error, 20 attempts, .400)
Zak Robben, who played all but a brief spell in one frame, posting a team-leading 38 assists, while
TJ Jurko served three of NJIT's five aces.
The Highlanders were hurt by service errors, losing 16 points there compared to the five that dropped in for points on the plus side. By comparison, Mason had five fewer errors (11) and more aces (8),
Borecki, with his match-leading 12 digs, was the only Highlander in double figures in that column. At the net, Anthony shared the team lead in total individual blocks with Borecki, as Anthony logged a block solo and four block assists.
GMU, which swept Rutgers-Newark in Friday night EIVA action, Mason opened up Saturday's match with a 3-1 lead in the first set, but the Highlanders came back and went ahead 7-6 as part of a 6-0 run that ended with them on top 12-6. The spurt began with a kill for Anthony and continued on consecutive combination blocks by Anthony and Jurko.
Chris Kaepernick, who did his best work of the day for NJIT in Set One (4 of his 6 kills, an ace and a block) followed the two Anthony/Jurko blocks with his ace and Anthony added a solo block and a kill to cap the spurt.
Having gone up at 7-6, NJIT stayed ahead all the way to the late stages, when Mason tied at 21-21. That point, a block for Stevens and Heim, came as part of a 5-0 Patriot run that put them ahead 23-21 before Jurko's kill got NJIT back within a point. Jurko then served an ace and a Mason error put the Highlanders on the doorstep of set point. But it didn't come until a
Brad Thele kill clinched a 28-26 win for NJIT.
The Highlanders began the second set 2-0, but after that NJIT managed to put together back-to-back points only twice more in the set. Mason, which broke a 6-6 tie to go ahead for good, took the lead as part of a 5-0 ran that ended with it ahead 10-6. A two-point GMU spurt made it 12-7 and the teams alternated points up to a 14-9 Patriots lead. NJIT got three straight points to get to 12-14, but the Highlanders couldn't manage consecutive points again until it was too late. Two consecutive points helped the Highlanders go from 18-23 to 20-23, but a service error for the home team followed by a Lutz kill secured the set, leveling the match score at one set apiece.
The Highlanders, who lost the first point of the set they won and won the first point of their three respective lost sets, took the first point of the third set, but then dropped two and trailed the rest of the frame after an NJIT attack error gave George Mason a 3-2 edge. NJIT's inability to build a scoring streak, which is a big part of winning volleyball, continued to haunt the Highlanders in the third set, during which they never secured more than two points in a row.
George Mason only had a pair of three-point spurts on its own side in the third set, but it was enough for a methodical 25-22 win of the frame and a 2-1 lead in sets. Trailing 18-23, the Highlanders spurted 4-1 after coach Ryan McNeil called his final timeout, but it was too late again, as NJIT, needing two points to stay alive, handed over set point on a service error.
The Highlanders started out the fourth set 3-1 and they had a 9-6 advantage thanks to a Jurko kill. But the Patriots scored 12 of the next 15 points and would lead by at least four from 16-12 to match point at 25-20.
Next up for the Highlanders is a Friday 7 pm EIVA match in the Fleisher Athletic Center vs. Harvard, which is 15th in the AVCA national Division I/II poll.
After that, it's a non-EIVA Saturday afternoon home matchup vs. Springfield, which has won both Division III national championships played the NCAA began a men's volleyball championship for that division in 2012. The Pride are second in the latest AVCA men's national DIII poll.
