Mason men's volleyball sweeps second straight opponent over weekend

Mason men's volleyball defeats Rutgers-Newark in three-straight sets Saturday night at the RAC (photo by Amy Rose).

The Mason men’s volleyball team won their second game in a row Saturday night as they defeated Rutgers-Newark Scarlet Raiders at the RAC.

Mason took the game in straight sets and with the win the Patriots get back to even on the year as they improve to 6-6. The individual sets were, 25-21, 25-17, and 25-22.

Led by senior opposite hitter Jonathan Lutz who registered 12 kills in only two sets and junior middle blocker Hunter Stevens who had 10 kills, Mason battled back in the first set and then went on to control the final two.  Senior setter Joe Heim contributed 40 assists.

Rutgers came out on fire in the first set, taking six of the first seven points and had a five-point lead when the score reached 8-3. Mason battled back, but Rutgers had a 14-10 lead when Mason’s redshirt freshman Jack Wilson appeared to injure his ankle. He would leave the game and not return. Mason pulled to within two points at 16-14 and this prompted Rutgers head coach Pedro Trevino to use one of his timeouts. Coming out of the timeout Mason won the first two points and tied the game at 16. They took their first lead at 18-17 and never looked back. They opened up a four-point lead and went on to take the first set, 25-21.

Mason used its momentum from their comeback win in the first set and started the second set winning the first five points. Mason would never trail in this set. Rutgers was able to cut the lead to seven but Mason was never in danger of dropping the set and took the second set, 25-17.

The two teams exchanged points to start the third set, neither team getting larger than a two point lead. Mason finally broke that trend when they opened up a three-point lead at 11-8. They took this lead and grew it to as big as six points. Rutgers cut the lead to two points at 24-22, but Mason won the next point and with that they won the match.

Mason (6-6) is home for their next four games and play host to Saint Francis (8-5) this Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the RAC.