Jan. 23, 2004

The George Mason men's volleyball team faces one of its toughest tests of the season on Saturday night when the Patriots host the 2003 NCAA national champions. Lewis University makes the trip to Fairfax to take on the Patriots for the tenth time in the series, one which has seen Lewis win the previous nine meetings.

The Patriots are off to a slow start this season. They opened the season this past week with a pair of road matches against two teams that are among the best in the nation. The Patriots opened the season facing then-14th-ranked Ball State University. Despite playing in a hostile environment, George Mason was able to take a game from Ball State before losing, 30-23, 30-25, 27-30, 30-22. Junior Felix Campos paced the Patriots with 17 kills and a .282 hitting percentage.

Less than 24 hours later, the Patriots were in action again, this time against Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). While not nationally ranked, IPFW has received votes in both of this year's USA Today/AVCA polls and the Mastodons showed why they deserve respect. While IPFW took a 3-0 win over George Mason, the Patriots did their best to make it anything but easy.

After stumbling badly in the first game, the Patriots gave IPFW more than it wanted before the Mastodons were finally able to take a 30-16, 30-28, 35-33 win. Campos again had a strong game with 19 kills and a .233 hitting percentage. Sophomore Matt Steinfurth totaled 13 kills and a .242 hitting percentage.

Campos and Steinfurth are the only Patriots to have a hitting percentage better than .180. Campos is hitting .256 on the year while Steinfurth is at .215. While Ball State and IPFW were strong opponents, the Patriots will face few challenges this year as daunting as tonight's opponent. Lewis University comes to George Mason as the 11th-ranked team in the nation.

Lewis University became the first Division II school to win the NCAA men's volleyball championship when it accomplished the feat last year. This season, things have started slowly for the Flyers. They have faced three teams in the top 10 and have a 1-3 record against those opponents. After defeating ninth-ranked Penn State in the season opener, Lewis has since lost to fourth-ranked Hawai'i, top-ranked Pepperdine, and Penn State in a rematch.

Fabiano Barreto and Jeff Soler have led the way so far, with 64 and 58 kills, respectively. Enrique Escalante has been strong as well, leading the team with a .293 hitting percentage. The defense has been led by Ryan Stuntz's 39 digs and Greg Pochopien's 14 block assists.