CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Men's Volleyball dropped an EIVA home match to George Mason, 3-0 (22-25, 21-25, 20-25), on Friday night inside Malkin Athletic Center.

How it Happened

• Harvard (9-14; 2-7 EIVA) allowed the first point of the match and was unable to move past George Mason (11-14; 3-6 EIVA) despite tying the match three different times within the first 10 points of the frame. The Crimson later pulled even at 16, but three straight Patriot points gave the visitors a large enough cushion to withstand a Harvard run. George Mason ultimately took the first set, 25-22.
• The second set started like the first, but this time, the Patriots opened a 9-4 lead. The Crimson, however, hung around and got to within, 23-20. In the end, the deficit proved to be too large for Harvard as it finished on the short end of a 25-21 score.
• Despite looking at a two-sets-to-none deficit, Harvard continued to compete and found itself deadlocked at 9-9. The Patriots, however, answered with six consecutive points to take a 15-9 lead. The Crimson rebounded by scoring six of the frame's next nine points to close to within 18-15. GMU answered with the match's next two points and went on to record the 25-20 victory.

Harvard Highlights

• Ryan Hong shared team-high honors with seven kills (Zach Berty), while hitting .500 for the night. The senior also had six digs.
• Berty posted the aforementioned seven kills and had a team-best two services aces.
• Kade McGovern was credited with six kills and Ethan Smith contributed five, to complete an offensive attack that featured four players with five or more kills. Smith also hit .833 for the match.

Up Next

The Crimson returns to the Malkin Athletic Center floor on Saturday to face the same George Mason Patriots at 4 p.m. ET. Prior to the contest, Harvard will recognize its four seniors in Hong, Alessio Pignatelli, Will Polster and Will Sorenson. The EIVA contest will air live on ESPN+.