MASON TAKES DOWN JMU 3-1 IN CAA VOLLEYBALL

Saturday, October 10

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7 p.m.

James Madison University

6-14, 0-5CAA

George Mason

14-6, 3-2CAA

George Mason

James Madison

10/11/2009 1:45:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 10, 2009 ? George Mason hit .314 as a team and pulled away from a 1-1 tie with strong hitting and blocking in the final two sets for a 3-1 win over James Madison in a Colonial Athletic Association volleyball match Saturday night in Sinclair Gymnasium.

GMU improved to 14-6 overall and 3-2 in the CAA after winning by set scores of 29-27, 16-25, 25-13, and 25-15. JMU dropped its seventh in a row to fall to 6-14 overall and 0-5 in the CAA.

Mason emerged from a tight first set and JMU dominated the second set for a 1-1 tie. However, the Patriots registered all of their eight and a half blocks and hit .476 in the final two sets to pull out the victory.

“I'm disappointed in the outcome because we played so well in games one and two,” commented head coach Disa Garner. “We're clearly getting better as a team and improving our level of play. Early on, we were in control, made great plays, and played good defense. Then we relaxed slightly in the break, and as young teams tend to do, we lost our mental focus and had a few errors. We didn't manage that well. Going into game four, I thought we had a better mental frame of mind and fought a little harder. Once we figure out how to stable ourselves and stay focused throughout, we'll be ok. We're playing a lot better volleyball, but a young team's confidence is still fragile. On the positive side, some of our injuries are getting better and we're practicing better. We just have to be patient to keep battling through it. We're playing better though, hopefully we can keep working hard come away with three wins next week.”

Holly Goode had 18 kills for the Patriots to lead all players and hit .455 with five digs and seven blocks. Kesley Bohman added 10 kills and six blocks. Fernanda Bartels totaled 38 assists and nine digs in the victory.

Freshman Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) had 16 kills and six digs to lead the Dukes. Sophomore Kelly Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) added 13 kills. Freshman