April 16, 2005

Box Score

The George Mason men's volleyball team played in front of its biggest home crowd of the season and for much of the match against Penn State, the Patriots played some inspired volleyball. In the end, though, the third-ranked Nittany Lions were able to withstand Mason's assault as the 14th-ranked Patriots fell to Penn State, 30-24, 30-26, 30-28 in an Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium in Fairfax.

Shaun Powell had a match-high 21 kills and hit .516 on 31 attacks but he didn't receive much help otherwise. R.J. Goubeaux added seven kills and hit .500 but no other Mason player was able to hit better than .150. Felix Campos and Matt Steinfurth each had negative hitting percentages as Penn State outhit the Patriots .408-.207.

Mason had chances in all three games but allowed Penn State to pull away down the stretch. The first game saw the Nittany Lions call a timeout with the score at 20-20 and they won 10 of the final 14 points. In the second game, the Patriots trailed by just one, 25-24, before Penn State won five of the final seven points. In the third game, Mason jumped out to a 14-9 lead and held a 23-21 advantage before Penn State won three straight points to take a lead. The game was later tied at 27-27 before Nate Meerstein and Kevin Wentzel recorded back-to-back kills to give Penn State a pair of match points. Powell recorded his 21st kill on the next point to pull mason to within one before Meerstein responded with kill on the match's final point.

Aaron Smith had 13 kills and hit .688 for Penn State while Matt Proper had 11 kills and hit .400. Nate Meerstein had nine kills and hit .583 while first-team All-American Keith Kowal had five blocks, including the 500th of his career.

Steinfurth did contribute with three solo blocks and three block assists giving him 300 blocks for his career. The Patriots were without starting setter Dave Egan, who sat out the match with an ankle injury. Redshirt freshman Billy Freesmeier started in his place and recorded 35 assists along with two block assists.

Penn State finished the regular season unbeaten in the EIVA. The Nittany Lions are now 27-3, 12-0. Mason finished in second place in the EIVA with a mark of 17-9, 8-4. The Patriots will host St. Francis (Pa.) in the opening round of the EIVA Tournament on April 23 at 7 p.m. That match will be in Fairfax. Should the Patriots win, they will advance to the semifinals of the tournament against either Juniata or NYU. That match would be held on April 28 at Penn State.