Mason women's volleyball defeats Fordham 3-1 on Senior Night

Mason women's volleyball team won 3-1 on Saturday against Fordham (photo by Amy Rose).

The Mason women’s volleyball team defeated the Fordham Rams three sets to one on Senior Night at the RAC on Saturday. The first, third, and fourth sets were highly competitive, with the first and the fourth set exceeding 25 points for a winner to emerge. The Patriots came out victorious due to huge contributions by seniors Tori Price, Lana Zonjic and Laura Spencer. All three put on a show in their last home match of their careers. Zonjic and Spencer led the way for the Patriots with 14 and 12 kills respectively, while Price tallied a team-high 41 assists for the Patriot offense. Sophomore Bernetta Moore led the team with 16 digs.

The Patriots fell in a nail-biter first set 27-29, and had fourteen kills to only five errors but were unable to find the shot to put the Rams away. Fordham led 20-15 when the Patriots made a run and eventually knotted the game at 24. The teams swapped points until a Mason error gave the set to Fordham. The Rams committed nine errors along with nineteen kills.

The Patriots dominated the second set as they won 25-13. Mason jumped out to an incredible 12-3 lead and never looked back. The Patriots played with fire and energy knowing that a two to zero set lead would be near impossible to come back from. Mason’s spikes found holes in the Fordham defense, while their blocks prevented any Ram spikes from getting to the ground. The Patriots played near flawless only committing two attack errors while boasting a staggering .429 attack percentage. Nine Fordham errors contributed to the big advantage for the Patriots in the second set.

The third set was much like the first set, but this time the Patriots were able to get the win 25-23. The Patriots committed five errors to the Rams’ eight. Mason made their mistakes in the beginning of the set, allowing the Rams to take a 16-10 advantage, but the Patriots fought back and were able to tie the set at 17. The match would be tied again at 19 and 20 before the Patriots found themselves down 22-20. Despite being down, Mason continued to play fundamental volleyball and were able to go on a five to one run to end the set. The Patriots’ emotions ran wild following the third set win, as the team wanted to win for their seniors.

The fourth set was every bit as exciting as the third, with the Patriots fighting their way to a 26-24 victory to seal the match. Mason was able to jump out to 10-8 lead before going down 11-14. As was the story of the match, the Patriots rallied and tied the game up at 15 apiece. A long volley resulted in a Mason error that seemed to take the wind out of the Patriot sails, but they continued to battle and eventually took a 22-18 lead. A couple mistakes by Mason gave the Rams life at 22-21, and the teams swapped points until eventually leaving the fourth set tied at 24. Sophomore Meredith Bush put the match away with a spike into the corner of the court, sending the gym and the players into an excited frenzy.

With the win, Mason improved to 7-19 overall and 3-9 in Atlantic 10 conference play, while the loss dropped the Rams to 9-19 overall and 2-10 in conference play.

The Patriots look to build on this win when they travel to take on Dayton on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.