SportsVolleyball

George Mason not enough for Leopards

Senior middle blocker Jason Flick helped La Verne team members outscore their Division I opponent, George Mason University, by successfully spiking the ball over the net. La Verne beat Mason in four matches Tuesday night. / photo by Summer Herndon
Senior middle blocker Jason Flick helped La Verne team members outscore their Division I opponent, George Mason University, by successfully spiking the ball over the net. La Verne beat Mason in four matches Tuesday night. / photo by Summer Herndon

by J.R. Gonsalves
Assistant Sports Editor

“Fired up” is a term that only describes the peak of any one person’s or team’s emotions. Last Tuesday, “fired up” was the perfect phrase to describe the University of La Verne men’s volleyball team, when it defeated George Mason, a Division I school, in four games, 11-15, 15-8, 15-8 and 15-8.

Game one started with a flurry. George Mason and La Verne exchanged side-out after side-out, before Mason pulled away, 14-6, La Verne made a run and rallied off five straight points but fell short in the end.

However, where La Verne left off in game one, they picked up in game two. The Leopards did fall behind 3-0 but then went on a rampage, outscoring Mason, 7-0, in a run that started the Leopards on their way to victory.

“We knew we played a bad game in game one, and we felt that it was just a warm up game for us,” said senior setter Morgan Coberly, who had 62 assists to lead all players.

The Leopards had a tough time establishing the middle in game one, and when they finally got the middles the ball, ULV took command of the match over George Mason.

“Our passing wasn’t good enough in game one to establish the middles,” said senior middle blocker Jason Flick, who led all players with a .647 hitting percentage. He also added 11 kills. “When I did get set, I wasn’t looking at the block, I was just banging away.”

The Leopards did not have to look at the block, and for the most part every hitter for the Leopards only had a single blocker up for the majority of the match.

“They put up a solid block, but we were either hitting around them or tooling them,” said junior outside hitter Chris Peterson, who had a good passing night. He also had 16 kills on 28 attempts, a percentage of .321.

“All of our hard work paid off,” said opposite hitter Ryan Allen, who contributed to the Leopards effort with 22 kills and two solo blocks.

The Leopards have given themselves a lift when they really needed it. After beating George Mason, a team that had knocked off the No. 1 ranked Division III team in the nation earlier this season, Juniata, they have almost assured themselves a berth in the Division III playoffs.

“We won this game for the Viking,” said Flick who was second on the team in digs, he had four. Peterson led the Leopards in digs with seven.

The Leopards had 71 kills to 61 of George Mason’s and had an outstanding team hitting percentage of .324, in comparison to that of George Mason’s mediocre .163.

“This gives us a gauge of where we are at know in comparison to that of Juniata,” said head coach Jack Coberly, who is in his first year as the Leopards coach and is set to coach the Leopards their first birth into the Division III playoffs.

The Leopards next outing will be at the San Bernardino Tournament, tomorrow, the times are not yet set. On March 18, La Verne will host Cal State Northridge at 7:30 p.m.

J.R. Gonsalves, Assistant Sports Editor
J.R. Gonsalves
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Summer Herndon, Photography Editor
Summer Herndon
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