April 10, 2004
Box Score
The George Mason men's volleyball team had one of its best hitting games of the season on Saturday night and the result showed the effort as the Patriots downed Rutgers-Newark in straight sets, taking a 30-25, 31-29, 30-25 win over the Scarlet Raiders in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action.
The Patriots (6-16, 4-7) had lost to Rutgers-Newark, 3-0 earlier this year but the tables were turned on Saturday. The Patriots hit .372 on the night offsetting a strong night by the Scarlet Raiders (14-10, 9-3). The visitors hit .310 but committed six blocking errors and 15 service errors. The Patriots had 12 service errors but only two blocking errors and both teams had eight total blocks.
Felix Campos was better than average performance, tallying 21 kills with a .457 hitting percentage. He also had four digs a block assist and one service ace. He entered the game third in the nation in Division I and II in kills per game and he hit well above his 5.06 per game average. He got strong support from a number of team members as Dave Egan had 38 assists, seven kills and no errors on 10 attacks, and one solo block and one block assist. Graham Smithson came off the bench for seven kills on eight attacks and three total blocks.
The Scarlet Raiders were led by Andrew Pink's two service aces and 14 kills but hit just .207. Aleks Ondelj had game-highs with 40 assists and six digs while Henry Richardson had nine kills and no errors on 12 attacks. He also had one solo block and three block assists but was whistled for three blocking errors. Byron Goff added 10 kills but had four service errors.
The first game was tight throughout with the score tied 25-25 before the Patriots closed things out. A pair of Rutgers-Newark errors combined with two Campos kills and a Dustin Crosby kill gave George Mason the first game. It looked like the Scarlet Raiders would even things but a George Mason rally quashed those hopes.
The Scarlet Raiders led 12-7 early and 25-21 late in the match but the Patriots rallied behind the serve of Matt Steinfurth, eventually tying the game at 27-27. Rutgers-Newark had a game-point at 29-28 but Crosby came up with a big kill to tie the game. After a Steinfurth kill gave the Patriots the lead, Ben Bostaph committed an attack error to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead.
The final game saw the teams stay even until the Patriots turned a 20-19 edge into a 25-21 advantage. Rutgers-Newark close to within two at 26-24 before the Patriots won four of the final five points for the win.
George Mason has one regular-season match remaining. The Patriots will host No. 8 Penn State on Saturday in the UV Memorial Match as part of Alumni Weekend. The Patriots will then likely travel to Juniata on April 24 for the first round of the EIVA Tournament.
