Despite a 1-6 record for George Mason, Ball State suffered its second straight home loss as the Patriots swept the Cardinals 3-0.
Head coach Joel Walton thought it would be a difficult match from the first serve.
The first set went back and forth, and the Cardinals looked like they had wrapped it up leading 24-22. However, the Patriots scored four consecutive points and forced the Cardinals to burn two timeouts on their way to a 24-26 first set victory.
"We had a few moments, like at the end of game one where we just needed to finish the game and we couldn't do it," Walton said.
George Mason carried its momentum into the second set, forcing a Ball State timeout leading 21-17. The Patriots used the momentum to win their second set of the night after a set point ace from redshirt junior Paco Velez.
The Cardinals had a .000 attack percentage in the second set after recording an even eight kills and eight errors on 24 attempts.
Ball State looked to gain back momentum in the third set after jumping out to a 7-6 lead. George Mason tied the set at 24-24 and ultimately won 27-25.
"I think we kind of just expected to roll over George Mason and win the game, but they played really well," freshman middle attacker Matt Walsh said.
One of the few bright spots for the Cardinals was the play of Walsh, who finished with 10 kills on 16 attempts to put him at a respectable .500 attack percentage. He also put up a team high three blocks on the night.
Ball State had a season low .161 attack percentage with 22 errors.
Marcin Niemczewski also finished the match with 10 kills and three digs.
Defensively, senior libero David Ryan Vander Meer's 13 digs weren't enough to stop the Patriots' offense.
The Cardinals will return to the court on at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 at home against Lewis.
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