GCU Drops Opener at George Mason

Thursday, April 9

Fairfax, VA

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

13-14

George Mason

10-11

Grand Canyon

MASON

Sean Saxton had a match-best eight blocks at George Mason Thursday.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

4/9/2015 7:57:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Grand Canyon dropped the first of two non-conference matches at George Mason, 3-1, in Fairfax, Va., Thursday. The teams meet again Saturday at 4 p.m. (Arizona Time).

GCU (13-14) won the first set 25-20, but dropped the next three, 28-26, 25-17, 25-19. George Mason improved to 10-11.

Freshman Shalev Saada led GCU in kills with 14. Redshirt junior middle blocker Sean Saxton had a match-best eight blocks, including one solo. Junior Tanner Maxwell had 12 kills, eight digs and two service aces, while setter Michael Milstein had 36 assists and two service aces. Gerrard Lipscombe added a team-best nine digs to go with nine kills.

George Mason had 11 service aces. GCU had five service aces and 12 service errors. Mason had 14 errors. The Lopes outblocked the Patriots 14-9. GMU led in kills (55-40), attack percentage (.258-.198), digs (45-34) and sideout percentage (63-56).

"We blocked really well and they were on fire serving in the third and fourth sets," said GCU coach Jeremy Price. The Patriots had five aces in the fourth set. "They were better in transition and it started with their serving pressure."

In winning the first set, Grand Canyon hit .481 with 14 kills and only one error on 27 attempts.

Nine of the 11 ties in the match came in the second set, as did three of four lead changes. GCU led 13-9 before the Patriots rallied to tie it 16-16. GCU came back from a 22-19 deficit. After a service error, Maxwell had a kill and Saada and Saxton combined for a block to tie the match, 22-22. GCU had three set points that would have given them a 2-0 lead in sets. A Patriot attack error put GCU up 24-23. A Saxton's solo block made it 25-24 and a Mason service error gave GCU a 26-25 lead, but the Lopes were unable to close out the set.

"We had a couple set points, but never got a good swing on it," said Price.

Fans can follow Saturday's match with links available at www.gculopes.com. Live stats are free, but a subscription fee is required for the video provided by the host school.

GMU 3, GCU 1