Jan. 16, 2004

Box Score

Muncie, IN - The George Mason University men's volleyball team began the 2004 season on Friday by visiting 14th-ranked Ball State University and the Cardinals showed why the are among the nation's elite, downing the Patriots, 30-23, 30-25, 27-30, 30-22.

The Patriots (0-1) started off strong, taking an early lead in the opening game. But trailing 15-13, Ball State went on an 8-1 run to take a five-point lead and won 17 of the game's final 25 points for a 1-0 lead. The second game was competitive even longer with the teams tied at 20-20 before the Cardinals (2-0) pulled away with a 10-5 run to close out the game.

The third game saw the Patriots fall behind early but an 8-1 run put George Mason ahead 15-9. They did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way to cut the Cardinals lead to 2-1. The fourth game turned after George Mason forced a 13-13 tie. The Cardinals responded behind the serve of Zoran Grabovac and rallied to close out the math.

Junior Felix Campos (Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Rico/Colegia San Antonio) led the Patriots with 17 kills and a .282 hitting percentage. He also had two service aces and four digs. Sophomore Matt Steinfurth (Portsmouth, VA/Woodrow Wilson) had 13 kills and junior Dave Egan (Toronto, Canada/Francis Libermann) had 43 assists. On the defensive side, junior Dustin Crosby (Virginia Beach, VA/Kempsville) had seven digs and four block assists while junior Graham Smithson (Richmond, VA/James River) had two solo blocks and seven block assists.

In the end, the Patriots had no answer for Ball State's trio of Nick Meter, Jary Delgado and Evan Berg. Each had double-digit kills with a hitting percentage of .125 or better. For the match, Ball State had a .244 hitting percentage, double George Mason's .122.