NEWARK, NJ – Senior right side Austin Pappas led Rutgers-Newark with 11 kills and six aces, but George Mason posted a 3-0 EIVA win in The Golden Dome.  Set scores were 25-18, 26-24, 25-18.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Pappas roped five aces in the second game, including four in a row to spark a 6-0 run which staked the Scarlet Raiders (9-13, EIVA 1-10) to a 9-5 lead.  Pappas and senior outside hitter Grant Metheny had four kills apiece in the set, but the Patriots (10-14, EIVA 6-5) clawed out a 26-24 win.

George Mason junior outside hitter Andrew Dentler, who had five kills in each frame for a match-high total of 15, hammered down the final two points of the second game to give the Patriots control of the match. 

Metheny finished with nine kills while senior outside hitter Marcin Midura chipped in seven kills, two aces and four digs.  Freshman setter Manuel Felipez dished out 24 assists and made seven digs while senior libero Zack Chambers tallied nine digs.

George Mason dominated the net with 14.5 blocks to the Raiders' 3.0.  Dentler got in on five blocks while junior middle blocker Piotr Dabrowski notched a solo block plus a match-high seven assisted blocks.  Freshman middle blocker Hunter Stevens was in on six blocks and tied Dabrowski with three kills.

Junior outside hitter Michael Kvidahl added 10 kills for the Patriots while junior setter Javier Perez fueled an attack which hit .295 (35 kills, 12 errors, 78 attacks) with 32 assists. Perez added nine digs.

It was the 10th straight league loss for the Raiders who have three EIVA matches left to finish the 2012 campaign.

Rutgers-Newark visits neighborhood rival NJIT for an EIVA battle on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before hosting Harvard in The Golden Dome on Saturday for Senior Night.