Mason women's volleyball drops A-10 home opener to Saint Louis

Mason women's volleyball team tries to keep their momentum going in A-10 home opener against Saint Louis (Photo by Gopi Raghu).

The George Mason University women’s volleyball team lost their Atlantic 10 home opener on Friday night in a 3-1 loss to Saint Louis. George Mason took the first set 25-15 before dropping the next three 16-25, 14-25, and 21-25. 

The Patriots came out firing in the first set landing 14 kills out of their 32 total attempts, while only committing two errors. This, combined with nine errors from the visiting Billikens, led to a 25-15 first set victory for Mason. 

The second and third sets were completely different stories for the Patriots. With eight errors in the second set and five in the third the Patriots started to fall apart. Their successful attacking percentage dropped from 37.5 percent in the first set to 0 percent in the second and .97 percent in the third. Some of this can be attributed to the Saint Louis defense. Their blocking started taking the heat out of the Mason spikes, giving their defense a better chance to get the ball under control. 

Down two sets to one the Patriots knew this was a must win set and they played like it. They started flying around the court and blocking the Billiken spikes. A net violation call stopped the Patriot momentum near the end of the set and ultimately allowed the Billikens to close out the match on top.  

There were a couple standout players for the Patriots. Senior Tori Price led the team with 33 assists on the night and sophomore Bernetta Moore led the team with an incredible game high 22 digs. High flying, outside hitter Morghan Martin was the only attacker with double figure kills with 14. 

Mason’s next match is at home against conference rival Virginia Commonwealth University on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.