NEWARK, NJ—George Mason's potent hitting on offense and blocking on defense proved to be too much for NJIT and the visiting Patriots scored a 3-1 victory over the Highlanders in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action Saturday evening in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
Mason (2-2 in the EIVA; 5-8 overall) took the opening set 25-21 and then rolled in the second frame, 25-15, for a commanding 2-0 lead in sets. NJIT (0-4 EIVA; 7-6 overall) stayed alive in the third set, 25-23, but the visitors secured the win in the fourth, 25-20.
The visitors outhit NJIT nearly 3-to-1, as George Mason posted a team attack percentage of .359 (46 kills, 13 errors, 92 attempts) to .123 (43 kills, 29 errors, 114 attempts) for the Highlanders.
Half of NJIT's 29 attack errors came on hits into George Mason blocks, as the Patriots registered 14.5 total team blocks.
Redshirt sophomore Jack Wilson led the GMU attack with a match-best 14 kills and just one error in 22 swings (.591 attack percentage). Wilson wasn't alone in finding the holes, as Paco Velez had 11 kills and only two errors in 26 attempts and Ryan Rosenmeier had 5 kills and an error in his 6 attempts and Christian Malias added 8 kills with 3 errors on 18 attempts.
Malias and Hunter Stevens each had 6 block assists and Rosenmeier added 5 block assists for the winning side. Radoslav Popov's match-best 10 digs paced GMU's floor defense.
Malias, a sophomore for the Patriots, served four of his team's eight aces and freshman setter Brian Negron piled up 34 assists for the winners.
NJIT's hitting leader was
TJ Jurko with 11 kills and he also posted four service aces for the Highlanders.
Jabarry Goodridge,
Kajetan Borecki, and
Luke Robbe all added a pair of aces for NJIT, which notched 10 as a team.
Setter
Zak Robben posted 38 assists for NJIT and he was also the individual blocking leader with three (2 solo, 1 assisted).
Senior libero
Oren Zyndorf had nine digs to lead NJIT in that category, while Jurko added eight digs to his solid all-around game.
The opening set Saturday was close, with eight ties and four lead changes before George Mason gained the upper hand, 25-21.
The last tie came at 21-all, but George Mason claimed the last four points, starting with an NJIT service error and continuing with three more unanswered points, two on aces by Malias.
The visitors continued their run into the second set, scoring the first two points and never trailing in the next frame. Back-to-back unforced attack errors by the Highlanders put GMU up 7-2 and the Patriots cruised, 25-15.
NJIT got back into contention with a 25-23 win in the third set that the Highlanders led from 8-7 on. Jurko had five kills without an error in the third set.
The Highlanders built an early 6-4 lead in the fourth set, but George Mason fought back and surged ahead at 9-8. The teams went back-and-forth for some time and it was 16-14, Mason, when the Patriots used a 4-1 spurt to gain some separation, 20-15. The closest the Highlanders got the rest of the way was 19-22, but GMU closed out the set and match 3-1, with Velez notching a kill for match point.
The Highlanders have a week off before returning to action at Princeton on Saturday, March 7, at 7 pm. The previous EIVA matchup between the two teams ended in a 3-0 victory for the Tigers at NJIT on February 6.
