Mason men's volleyball defeats NJIT in three-straight sets

Mason men's volleyball defeats NJIT in three-straight sets Friday night at the RAC (photo by Maurice Jones).

Mason men’s volleyball team won Friday night against the NJIT Highlanders at the RAC.

Mason took the game in straight sets, 25-22, 25-19, and 25-18. The Patriots took some time to get going, but looked dominating in the final two sets.

Mason was led by red shirt freshman Jack Wilson who had 13 kills. Senior setter Joe Heim was all over the court and tallied 39 assists. The Highlanders were led by junior opposite hitter TJ Jurko who had 12 kills.

The Highlanders began the first set with the lead and it grew to as big as three points. Mason battled back to get their first tie of the game at 14-14. The teams swapped points and Mason grabbed its first lead at 18-17. The set was tied at 22-22 and Mason went on a streak and won the last three points. The Patriots went on to use this momentum in the following games.

Mason never looked back as they came out in the second set and dominated. Mason never trailed this set, as they grabbed a four-point lead early on and it grew to as big as seven. The Patriots looked solid as they limited themselves to only one error all set long. They cruised to a second set victory, 25-19.

Mason came out in the third set and looked like they did not want this game going any longer. They jumped out to an early lead and when their lead grew to 10-7 the Highlanders’ head coach Ryan McNeil used a timeout. Mason eventually grew their lead to as big as seven points and went on to win the third set, 25-18, giving them the victory in three sets.

Mason (5-6) is home for their next five games and play Saturday night against Rutgers-Newark at 7:00 p.m. at the RAC. They hope to use this win as momentum going into a crucial stretch of home division games over the next couple of weeks.