April 17, 2004

Box Score

The George Mason men's volleyball team honored its two seniors on Saturday night but Dustin Crosby and Brad Kniewel weren't able to soak in a victory as No. 7 Penn State defeated the Patriots, 30-26, 30-12, 30-21 in front of a season-high 644 fans at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action.

Early on in the match, it appeared as if the Patriots (6-17, 4-8) might have a chance against Penn State. The first game was tied at 20-20 before the Patriots were caught in a difficult rotation and the Nittany Lions (19-9, 11-1) rolled off five straight for a 25-20 lead. From there they were able to battle point for point before closing out the first game.

In the second game, not only did the wheels come off for the Patriots, but the axle and engine came flying out as well. After jumping out to an 11-2 lead, Penn State toyed with the Patriots until reeling off 13 of the final 16 points to make it a 2-0 advantage. Penn State had 19 kills and made just two errors on 24 attacks in that game for a .708 hitting percentage. The Patriots, meanwhile, had five kills and four errors on 16 attacks for a .062 hitting percentage.

The third game was played with a lot of pride by George Mason. But tied at 9-9, Penn State put together a run that gave them a four-point edge, 17-13. The Patriots rallied and close the gap slightly, trimming it to 21-17, but the Nittany Lions rolled off seven of the next nine points to go ahead 28-20. From there, it was just a matter of time for Penn State to grab the win.

Matt Proper had 11 kills and hit .474 in the match. Alex Gutor had 12 kills and a .368 hitting percentage while Nate Meerstein had 12 kills and a .474 hitting percentage. The Patriots had no answer for Keith Kowal, who had nine kills and no errors on 10 attacks. As a team, Penn State hit .513 in the match, added 20 digs, five service aces and six and a half blocks. They also had 49 receptions and just one receiving error.

The Patriots hit just .175 and had 10 service errors to just one ace. Graham Sheppard's six digs were nearly half of the team's total as they had just 13. There were four total blocks for the Patriots but they committed four blocking errors. Crosby had nine kills and a .22 hitting percentage in his final match to go along with two assists. Kniewel missed his 18th straight match and he will attempt to get back this season by applying for a redshirt from the NCAA.

Felix Campos also had nine kills in the match and he now needs just seven kills to tie the school record for career kills during the rally-scoring error. That mark of 814 was set by Art Kulans who graduated last year. Campos already holds the school's single-season mark for kills (420, set this year) and single-game kill record (32, vs. St. Francis). He should reach that milestone in the opening round of the EIVA Tournament. The Patriots, the fifth seed, will travel to Princeton on Saturday to take on the Tigers, with the winner almost certainly playing at Penn State in the semifinals.