April 29, 2004
It hasn't been a pretty season for the George Mason men's volleyball team. The Patriots started the year 0-11 and had some ups and downs while working their way toward a 6-17 over all record, 4-8 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association's (EIVA) Tait Division. The Patriots were 6-5 at home and 0-12 away from John Linn Memorial Gymnasium.
All that changed on Saturday when the Patriots traveled to Princeton and won their first road game of the season at a critical time - the quarterfinals of the EIVA Tournament. Now, in the semifinals of the tournament for the fourth-straight year, the Patriots will need to upset No. 7 Penn State if they want to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988. George Mason takes on Penn State on the road, Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. Live stats for the match will be available at www.GoPSUsports.com
The winner of the EIVA Tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Final Four. Last year, the Patriots made the EIVA finals for the first time since 1995. They fell to Penn State in that match, 3-1. This year's matches against Penn State have not been as close. The Nittany Lions beat the Patriots, 30-19, 30-28, 30-23 in the season's first match, at Rec Hall, the site of today's semifinal. The second time around, Penn State won 30-26, 30-12, 30-21.
The Nittany Lions his .474 in the first match and .513 in the second. The Patriots hit .157 in the first and .175 In the second. Keith Kowal, the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Player of the Year, was a big force for Penn State in both matches. For the Patriots to win Thursday's match, they will need to first find an answer for him.
The Patriots will also have to do a better job of supporting Felix Campos. The junior outside hitter is All-EIVA second team this year and he was named EIVA Player of the Week for his 26-kill performance against Princeton on Saturday. It was the third time this year that Campos was named EIVA Player of the Week.
In the first match against Penn State, Campos had 16 kills. In the second match, he had nine. Part of the problem was that Penn State blockers were able to load up against Campos without worrying too much about other attackers. That will have to be different this time around.
Should the Patriots advance to the EIVA Finals, they will take on either Rutgers-Newark or Juniata in a televised match on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Patriots split with Rutgers-Newark this year but were swept by Juniata.
