Not having practiced for nearly a week and with injuries plaguing their squad, it appears as though the George Mason High School varsity volleyball team will need some time to shake the rust off. This was most evident on Tuesday night, as they were bested in three straight sets by Bull Run District rival Strasburg, 16-25, 12-25, 15-25.

The dominating Strasburg Rams used a relentless barrage of spikes and solid returns to best the undermanned Mustang squad, playing without two of their starting players.

Although senior Annie Zweighaft recently returned from injury, starters Ashley Dahl and Katie Breen were unable to participate in the contest, forcing younger, less experienced players to step up.

“I thought that Annie and [senior] Bailey Walton played great tonight, despite our struggles,” said Rwaida Alshagra, the first-year coach of Mason. “They had some awesome hits to help fill in for those injured players.”

However, with the different lineup, the Mustang squad seemed to struggle a little against a clearly superior Rams team. While Mason played only seven players the entire match and had just two on their bench, Strasburg continued to rotate their 15 players in and out of the game to wear down the Mustang front line.

The Mustangs got their first win in the district on September 25 against Manassas Park High. Mason dominated the first two sets 25-13, 25-13, before giving way in the third set 20-25. They then went on to close out the win in the third set, 25-22 to best the Cougars.

George Mason looked to rebound from their tough loss against Strasburg Wednesday night against host Madison County High in a district match-up. Results were not available at press time. Their next home match will be on Tuesday, Oct. 9 against Clarke County at 7:30 p.m.