April 29, 2004

Box Score

University Park, Pa. - The long 2004 men's volleyball season came to a close for George Mason on Thursday evening when the seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Patriots, 30-19, 30-21, 30-17. It was Penn State's third win over George Mason this season.

The Patriots were playing in their fourth-straight Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) semifinal but they had less success than last year, when they lost to Penn State in the final. On Thursday, nothing went George Mason's way.

The Patriots (7-18) were outhit in the match, .529-.071, and with the exception of the second game, were never in the match. Trailing 18-16 in the second game, George Mason could do nothing as Penn State (22-6) went on a 12-5 run to close out the game and take a 2-0 lead.

Matt Proper had 11 kills and one error on 15 attacks while Nate Meerstein had 11 kills and no errors on 12 attacks. Uvaldo Acosta Player of the Year Keith Kowal had seven kills and no errors on nine attacks.

The Patriots' Matt Steinfurth and Arturo Barreiro were the only players who could get anything going for George Mason. Steindurth had six kills and Barreiro had four kills and they hit .357 and .429, respectively. But Felix Campos, who is second in the nation in kills per game with 5.13, had just nine kills and made 11 errors on 33 attacks. Dustin Crosby had six kills but committed eight errors on 19 attacks.