Jan. 26, 2003

FORT. WAYNE, IN ... The George Mason University men's volleyball team dropped their third straight match, getting swept by No. 13 Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne (IPFW), 3-0 (30-27, 30-26, 30-28), on Sunday afternoon at Hilliard Gates Sports Center. The Patriots fell to 1-4, with all four losses to ranked teams, while the Mastodons improved to 3-1.

George Mason improved offensively as they were narrowly edged .304 to .298 in team hitting percentage. But both teams struggled with serving as the Patriots posted 16 service errors to 17 by the Mastodons. IPFW took their advantage defensively, outblocking George Mason 14.5 to eight.

Sophomore Shaun Powell (Toronto, Canada/Francis Libermann) continued to power the Patriots' offense, recording a match-high 21 kills, on .387 hitting, with three digs, a block and an assist. Sophomore Felix Campos (Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Rico/Colegio San Antonio) added seight kills, hitting .462, with four digs, a block and an ace. Sophomore Dave Egan (Toronto, Canada/Senator O'Connor) finished with a team-high 38 assists, three blocks and three kills, hitting .750, while freshman Matt Steinfurth (Portsmouth, VA/Woodrow Wilson) led the Patriot defense with a team-high four kills.

Matt Zbyszewski and Jeff Ptak posted double-figure kills for IPFW, with 16 and 11, respectively. Serdar Sikca added a match-high eight blocks.

George Mason will host their home opener on Thursday, Jan. 30, versus No. 14 Loyola (IL) (2-1) at 7 p.m. in the John Linn Memorial Gym. They return to the road this weekend with Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Tait Division matches at New York University on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Feb. 2, at Concordia at 2 p.m.