Volleyball Rallies Past George Mason, 3-1

Saturday, September 29

Harrionburg, Va.

7:00 PM

James Madison University

9-7, 2-0CAA

George Mason

3-12, 1-1CAA

George Mason

James Madison

9/30/2012 1:18:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept. 29, 2012 – Three players collected double digit kills, led by senior outside hitter Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) with 16, as the James Madison volleyball team rallied past George Mason for a 3-1 win at Sinclair Gymnasium on Saturday night.

JMU won by set scores of 22-25, 29-27, 25-15, 25-12 for its eighth win in its last 10 matches. The Dukes improved to 9-7 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association while the Patriots dropped to 3-12 and 1-1 in league play.

“I'm excited to get a win against a good team,” volleyball head coach Lauren Steinbrecher said. “I was pumped to see the team fight through some adversity in the beginning. In the first two sets, I thought Mason played real well and we responded to that well.”

Erb's 16 kills came on .325 hitting, committing just three errors in 40 attempts. She had a double-double with 12 digs, four blocks and two service aces. The senior moved into 10th on the school's all-time digs list with 989. She passed Lindsay Callahan (2007-10) for 10th and needs just 11 more to become the fourth player in school history with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) added a career-high 15 kills on .414 hitting with three blocks and two service aces. Redshirt senior outside hitter Natalie Abel (Washington, Pa./Trinity) also had a double-double with 11 kills, 16 digs, three aces, one block and an assist. Freshman outside hitter MacKenzie Kleespies (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) came off the bench to add seven kills and seven digs in just three sets played. Freshman middle blocker Sarah Delaney (Herndon, Va./South Lakes) contributed three kills and four blocks for the Dukes.

Junior libero Katie Daorai (Tampa, Fla./Plant) paced the Madison defense with 23 digs, adding three assists, a kill and a service ace. Senior setter Megan Wiechmann (Sunland, Calif./Village Christian) led the Dukes to a .270 team attack percentage, handing out 44 assists with six digs and three kills.

Mason was led by outside hitter Lana Zonjic with 16 kills on .209 hitting. She had a double-double with 10 digs, a service ace and an assist. Middle blocker Lolade Owokoniran added 10 kills and a match-high six blocks while middle blocker Danielle Cook had nine kills and six digs. Setter Tori Price had 41 assists, five blocks, nine digs, two aces and a kill. Libero Stephi Matsushima contributed a team-high 13 digs.