FAIRFAX, VA. - The Knights kicked off an eight-match stretch of road games on Friday as they fell in four-sets to George Mason. Artem Vetrov and Jack Lydon led the Knights with a combined 26.5 points, tallying 11 kills each.

How it Happened

Set One:

- The Knights came out strong on the offensive front, recording a pair of kills and a service ace for a 4-1 lead.

-Lorenzo Bonomo, Mihajlo Rodic and Rui Fernandes added kills early in the set to trade points to ten.

-A 7-1 spurt gave the Patriots the advantage, which they would carry to the end of the set.

-George Mason closed the set on an 8-2 run, dropping the Knights 25-16.

Set Two:

-The teams traded points to 18 as the Knights put away kill after kill off assists by Fernandes.

-A pair of attacks by Vetrov broke open a two-point lead for FDU, the largest lead of the set to that point.

-A final three-point spurt capped with a kill by Lydon ended the set in FDU's favor, 25-22.

Set Three:

-Rodic opened the third set with a block and back-to-back kills to establish an early FDU edge.

-A pair of kills by George Mason's Omar Hoyos leveled the score as the set shifted into a tight battle.

-With the score tied at 12, the Patriots launched on a 6-1 run to force an FDU timeout.

-The Patriots held control through the final half of the set to finish with a 25-18 lead.

Set Four:

-The final set opened in another tight battle as Rodic deposited a pair of kills to keep the Knights at pace with George Mason.

-FDU tallied 14 kills in the set on a .357 clip to take the set to a 31st point. 

-George Mason's Omar Hoyos drained a final pair of kills to finalize the set, 31-29.

Inside the Box Score

-The Knights posted their best clip of the season in the second set, recording 14 kills and hitting 40.7 percent.

-Vetrov and Lydon each recorded 11 kills and a combined seven blocks. Vetrov hit a 42.1 percent average in the match, his best of the season.

-Mihajlo Rodic logged a breakout performance with a season-best six kills and six blocks for 9.5 points.

-Anchoring the Knights was Rui Fernandes at setter and Grady Hoffman at libero. Fernandes posted a season-high 36 assists, seven digs and four kills while Hoffman clipped 12 digs.
 

Next Up

The Knights have a quick turnaround as they head to Alderson Broaddus for a pair of weekend matches on Saturday and Sunday.