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April 27, 2007

St. Francis defeats George Mason, 3-1

Mark Myers
Special to EIVAvolleyball.com

University Park, PA - In a rematch of last season semifinal match, No. 2 seed St. Francis defeated No. 3 seed George Mason 3-1 (30-24, 30-22, 27-30, 30-27) to advance to its second consecutive EIVA final tomorrow night at 7:30.

The St. Francis duo of senior middle hitter and EIVA player-of-the-year Marc Honore and freshman outside hitter Jordan Varee had a combined 49 kills in the victory, while George Mason's freshman outside hitter and EIVA newcomer-of-the-year Will Price had 20 kills and seven digs in a losing effort.

"One of our goals this year was to come in, and make it back to the championship game, and then push one step further," St. Francis coach Mike Rumbaugh said. "We got that one great win last year against Mason last year and I feel we still need to get that one big win again this year."

The first semifinal in the EIVA is usually the evenly match contest of the Thursday matches, and the Friars and Patriots didn't disappoint. The four-game match saw 28 ties and 9 lead changes, but it was the play of Honore in Game Two that gave the Friars an advantage they would never relinquish.

Honore powerful kill at 20 began an 11-2 Friars run that gave them a 2-0 lead in the match. But according to George Mason senior libero Graham Sheppard, it wasn't Honore's attacks that hurt the Patriots.

"Honore's got a little crazy of a jump serve," he said. "He hits it real flat and drills it at you. We did the best we could but he just went on a bit of a run. Our errors just kept compounding on each other."

Even though Honore's serve yielded three aces and kept Mason off-balance for the entire match, his 25 kills and .742 hitting percentage were the deciding factors. Those types of numbers are what most teams expect from St. Francis' dominant middle hitter, but it was Varee's 24 kills that made the difference in the four-game win for the Friars.

Varee made his mark in the waning points of Game One when he recorded two kill and a block to give St. Francis the opening game.

"[Varee] got a ton of looks, and we didn't put blocks up on him, and he hit off hands, and we couldn't dig balls," Price said. "It was a mess. They played better than us."

The Patriots were able to grab some momentum with a hard fought win in Game Three. The Mason defense stepped up with the score tied at 24 and the season jeopardy. The Patriots forced St. Francis to commit two consecutive hitting errors - followed by two straight kills - on their way to recording their only game victory.

But the momentum was short lived, as the Patriots gave it back to St. Francis by allowing six consecutive points, including three errors in a row early in Game Four. Mason did claw back into game at 26-25 before kills from Honore and Varee, effectively ended Mason's season.

"We were executing pretty good clip, we were controlling their serve, and we were able to run sets in system." Cho said. "But once they started serving a little bit better and we were collapsing on our passes, and on our defensive touches; we weren't able to score."

With the win, St. Francis set up a rematch of last season's EIVA title game against Penn State. The Nittany Lions defeated the Friars 3-0 to advance to the NCAA Men's Volleyball National Championships. But, Honore believes that last year's experience will play a big role in tomorrow night's match.

"A lot of the guys have been here before, so we won't have the jitters, and we can help the freshmen get used to it," he said. "The most important thing is how we take care of things on our side of the court, and then we'll be alright."



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Conference News 2005-06 \| 2006-07 \| 2007-08 \| 2008-09 \| 2009-10 \| 2010-11 \| 2011-12 April 27, 2007 St. Francis defeats George Mason, 3-1 Mark Myers Special to EIVAvolleyball.com University Park, PA - In a rematch of last season semifinal match, No. 2 seed St. Francis defeated No. 3 seed George Mason 3-1 (30-24, 30-22, 27-30, 30-27) to advance to its second consecutive EIVA final tomorrow night at 7:30. The St. Francis duo of senior middle hitter and EIVA player-of-the-year Marc Honore and freshman outside hitter Jordan Varee had a combined 49 kills in the victory, while George Mason's freshman outside hitter and EIVA newcomer-of-the-year Will Price had 20 kills and seven digs in a losing effort. "One of our goals this year was to come in, and make it back to the championship game, and then push one step further," St. Francis coach Mike Rumbaugh said. "We got that one great win last year against Mason last year and I feel we still need to get that one big win again this year." The first semifinal in the EIVA is usually the evenly match contest of the Thursday matches, and the Friars and Patriots didn't disappoint. The four-game match saw 28 ties and 9 lead changes, but it was the play of Honore in Game Two that gave the Friars an advantage they would never relinquish. Honore powerful kill at 20 began an 11-2 Friars run that gave them a 2-0 lead in the match. But according to George Mason senior libero Graham Sheppard, it wasn't Honore's attacks that hurt the Patriots. "Honore's got a little crazy of a jump serve," he said. "He hits it real flat and drills it at you. We did the best we could but he just went on a bit of a run. Our errors just kept compounding on each other." Even though Honore's serve yielded three aces and kept Mason off-balance for the entire match, his 25 kills and .742 hitting percentage were the deciding factors. Those types of numbers are what most teams expect from St. Francis' dominant middle hitter, but it was Varee's 24 kills that made the difference in the four-game win for the Friars. Varee made his mark in the waning points of Game One when he recorded two kill and a block to give St. Francis the opening game. "[Varee] got a ton of looks, and we didn't put blocks up on him, and he hit off hands, and we couldn't dig balls," Price said. "It was a mess. They played better than us." The Patriots were able to grab some momentum with a hard fought win in Game Three. The Mason defense stepped up with the score tied at 24 and the season jeopardy. The Patriots forced St. Francis to commit two consecutive hitting errors - followed by two straight kills - on their way to recording their only game victory. But the momentum was short lived, as the Patriots gave it back to St. Francis by allowing six consecutive points, including three errors in a row early in Game Four. Mason did claw back into game at 26-25 before kills from Honore and Varee, effectively ended Mason's season. "We were executing pretty good clip, we were controlling their serve, and we were able to run sets in system." Cho said. "But once they started serving a little bit better and we were collapsing on our passes, and on our defensive touches; we weren't able to score." With the win, St. Francis set up a rematch of last season's EIVA title game against Penn State. The Nittany Lions defeated the Friars 3-0 to advance to the NCAA Men's Volleyball National Championships. But, Honore believes that last year's experience will play a big role in tomorrow night's match. "A lot of the guys have been here before, so we won't have the jitters, and we can help the freshmen get used to it," he said. "The most important thing is how we take care of things on our side of the court, and then we'll be alright."