Antelopes Fall in Five-Setter To George Mason

Saturday, January 25

Antelope Gymnasium

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-3

George Mason

1-2

George Mason

Grand Canyon

Connor Dougherty tied a career-high with 13 kills against George Mason Saturday.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/25/2014 10:29:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

In already its fifth five-set match of the season, Grand Canyon lost 3-2 to George Mason at Antelope Gymnasium Saturday. GCU beat George Mason in five sets Friday.

The Antelopes are 4-3 overall and 3-2 in five-setters. Set scores were 28-26, 22-25, 25-14, 20-25, 15-13.

"I am disappointed with the result of tonight's match as we had several chances in the first set to win and set a different tone for the match," said GCU coach Jeremy Price. "I give George Mason a lot of credit for their tenacity, especially in fending off two set points."

Senior outside hitter Ben Ponnet had a match-high 20 kills. Middle blockers Connor Dougherty and Keaton Berry had 13 and nine, respectively. Dougherty tied a career-high he set March 25, 2010 at USC, during his freshman season. He hit .550 (13-2-20), while Berry was also over .500 at .533 (9-1-15). Ponnet hit an impressive .375 (20-5-40).

"I thought Ben Ponnet and our middles did a great job tonight attacking but we have to do a better job collectively from the service line," added Price on the Antelopes 18 service errors. " I hope this is a good learning experience for us. This is a tough weekend for us as we have a quick turnaround and have to play a 2-0 Hope International team tomorrow afternoon."

Senior setter Keith Smith had 56 assists and junior libero Jared Morrison had a career-best 18 digs.

"I thought Jared Morrison played his best defensive match of the year for us," added Price.

A Ponnet kill tied the match 8-8 in the fifth, but the Patriots followed with four of the next five points. GCU wasn't done yet, it scored three straight on a Ponnet kill, a George Mason attack error and a Robbie Brannick service ace. Tied 12-12, George Mason finished with three of the final four points.

The Antelopes forced a fifth set by hitting .423 in the third, their best set percentage of the match.

GCU plays its third match in as many days with a 3 p.m. contest against Hope International Sunday at Antelope Gymnasium. Fans unable to attend can follow live stats and live video with links at www.gculopes.com.

GMU 3, GCU 2