If there was one word used to describe the performance of George Mason outside hitter Mark Jones Friday against Ball State, it would be dominant.
After missing the Patriots' first three matches due to personal reasons, Jones led the team to an emotional 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Cardinals inside the confines of Worthen Arena. Jones had a match-high 30 kills to go along with 11 digs and five block assists.
"We knew he [Mark Jones] was going to be eligible tonight," coach Joel Walton said. "We expected him to be on the court. He's a good player for them and gives them another really good outside attacking option. The things he did tonight that really frustrated me were the 7-10 balls he just chopped, meaning they were out of system and he just hit a roll shot someplace on the court and we didn't play any of those up. He had one late in game five right after we watched him do it all match long. We were all over Jamion Hartley to move his feet and get a platform on the ball. Those were the frustrating things."
Despite his frustration, Walton credited Jones on his excellent performance.
"A 30-kill night is definitely a yeoman's effort," he said. "He put his team on his back and carried them."
Through the first four sets of the match, however, Ball State did a good job of forcing Jones into making mistakes. In spite of his then-21 kills, Jones had 16 errors and a .093 attack percentage.
"They [Ball State] changed up the block and their defense in the back," Jones said. "That threw me off, so I had to change my angles, change my spots I went after and I kinda had to work them a little bit. They played great defense and it kept me from where I wanted to go."
In the fifth set tiebreak, Jones was able to find his spots. He converted nine kills on 12 attempts. Four of the kills came with the Patriots down 14-11, including the game-winner.
"I was very hesitant in the third and fourth," Jones said. "I saw the block and I tried to move around it. Once I got rid of that hesitation, I just went after the block, kept swinging high and kept going for it."
Junior middle blocker Jamion Hartley, who had a solid 17 kill performance for the Cardinals, said the team struggled containing Jones throughout the match.
"Honestly, we couldn't really control what he was doing," he said. "It just seemed easy. Easy pickups and he was just rolling."
Even though Hartley had a breakout performance offensively, he said he was very disappointed in his defensive effort.
"I had a good match offensively, but my defense I definitely need to work on," he said. "I felt like I was the leader on the court, and I definitely should've made that last play."
Ball State will return to action Friday in a road matchup with Limestone. First serve is at 7:30 p.m.
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