2006-07 News Archives
Mason Advances to EIVA Championship Tournament Semifinals, 3-0
FAIRFAX, Va. (April 21, 2007) - The third-seeded George Mason
Patriots (12-9, 7-5 EIVA Tait) downed the sixth-seeded East
Stroudsburg Warriors (11-13, 5-8 EIVA Tait) in three games (30-12,
30-27, 30-19) in the quarterfinal round of the EIVA Championship
Tournament on Saturday evening at John Linn Memorial Gym. With
tonight's win, the Patriots advance to the semifinal round of the
tournament, where they will face the second-seeded St. Francis
(Pa.) Red Flash at the home of top-seeded Penn State on Thursday,
April 26 at 4:30 p.m.
Mason played East Stroudsburg just eight days ago at Linn Gym, with
the Patriots winning the first game in that match by 20 points on
their way to a 3-0 victory. Just like that match, George Mason got
off to a dominant start in the first game tonight, winning by 18
points, 30-12. With Mason leading 20-12, redshirt freshman opposite
hitter William Price put on an awesome display to close out the
first game, serving for the final 10 points of the game. Price
served all four of his aces during the 10-0 run and tallied two of
his match-high 18 kills during that stretch. The Patriots never
trailed in the entire first game.
The second game was the most competitive of the match, featuring 11
ties and five lead changes, as East Stroudsburg fought hard to
avoid falling into a 2-0 hole. After pulling into a one-point lead
at 15-14 after East Stroudsburg's Justin Allcock committed an
attack error, the Patriots never relinquished the lead, winning the
game 30-27.
The third game was similar to the first as Mason never trailed in
taking a 30-19 win to close out the match. Price, who registered a
hitting percentage of .654 in the match, closed out the game and
the match with his final kill off a nice feed from redshirt
freshman setter Ryan Kwiatkowski, who tallied a match-high 46
assists and seven digs in the victory.
George Mason hit .420 in the match, its second-best total of the
season. Meanwhile, East Stroudsburg struggled all night long,
hitting a paltry .087 as the Patriots registered 14 blocks as a
team. Senior middle blocker Kyle Swanson led all players with eight
in the match.
The only player to reach double-digits in kills for the Warriors
was senior Keith Eckenrode, who finished with 10. Senior setter
Adam Holdredge tallied 28 assists in the losing effort.
With three wins against East Stroudsburg this season, George Mason
pushes its record to an impressive 50-7 in the all-time series
against the Warriors.