Box Score

Fairfax, VA- The Saint Francis men's volleyball team gave everything they had to finish the weekend 2-0 after taking down #13 George Mason ( 25-17, 17-25, 25-20, 25-16) Sunday afternoon at EagleBank Arena.
 
The Red Flash improves to 9-6 overall and 3-2 during conference play. George Mason dropped to 10-4 overall and 4-2 in the EIVA.
 
How it Happened
 
First Set

• Saint Francis took the initial advantage in the first set and racked up a three-point edge after a Patrick Bryan (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) kill and Evan Feltz (Westerville, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) ace to lead 11-8.
• Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) got in on the action for the Red Flash with a kill to put SFU ahead 15-10.
• George Mason would pull within three before the Red Flash rallied on a 4-1 run to lead 20-15 and force the Patriots to call timeout.
• The Red Flash came out of the timeout and scored three in a row to sustain the lead they wouldn't relinquish.
• Set Score: SFU 25, GMU 17- SFU leads 1-0 

Second Set

• The second set was tightly contested early as indicated by its ten tied scores and seven lead changes.
• George Mason proceeded to take advantage of back to back SFU errors and a kill from Sam Greenslade to take a three-point lead at 16-13 and force SFU to a timeout.
• Following the timeout, both teams would exchange point until George Mason charged on a 5-0 run forcing the Red Flash to call its last timeout of the set.
• With a 22-15 lead, the Patriots scored three of the last five point in the set to take the second stanza.
• Set Score: GMU 25, SFU 17- Match tied 1-1 

Third Set

• Both teams exchange points in the early going of the third set.
• Four-straight points capped by a Fisher kill helped the Red Flash take a 13-10 lead and caused the Patriots to call a timeout.
• Three attack errors and a BJ Blair (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) kill extended the Red Flash lead to five at 17-13.
• The Red Flash never let its lead dip below three for the remainder of the set.
• SFU clinched the set on an attack error by George Mason.
• Saint Francis finished the set hitting .381 to George Mason's .174.
• Set Score: SFU 25, GMU 20- SFU leads 2-1 

Fourth Set

• The Red Flash strung together the first run of the third set with three in a row to lead 8-3.
• The Patriots managed to pull within two points before SFU regained its footing jumped to 18-11 lead thanks three straight kills from Fisher (2) and Cole Thompson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos).
• SFU maintained a six or seven point lead the rest of the way before closing the set by nine.
• Set Score: SFU 25, GMU 16- SFU leads 3-1 

Game Notes

• Saint Francis out-hit the Patriots .235 to .118 for the match. The Red Flash had 47 kills to George Mason's 39.
• The Red Flash also had 31 digs to George Mason's 29 while also holding a 16 to 11.5 advantage in total blocks.  
• SFU's Fisher led all players with 20 kills on 36 ties with five errors for a .471 hitting percentage. He contributed defensively with six digs and five block assists.
• Christian Graziano (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) stepped in and performed at a high level knocking down eight kills on 14 tries.
• Blair dished out 43 assist and had a team-high eight digs.
• Redshirt junior Cole Carver (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) anchored the middle with 10 total blocks while Hayden Herc (Eden, N.Y./Eden) added six.
• Greenslade had a team-high 16 kills to lead the Patriot's offensively.

Up Next
The Red Flash will come back home next weekend to take on NJIT and Princeton on Friday and Saturday.