March 12, 2005
Box Score
The 15th-ranked Lewis University Flyers rallied from a 2-1 deficit on Saturday night at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium to come from behind for a 3-2 win over 14th-ranked George Mason in front of a crowd of more than 300 in Fairfax. The Flyers got double-digit kills from all five of their starting hitters and they hit .429 in the fourth game and .400 in the fifth game to grab a 30-27, 31-33, 28-30, 30-23, 15-9 win.
The Patriots fell into a 12-6 hole in the first game, but rallied to win 21 of the next 35 points and pull to within one at 28-27. Lewis' Greg Pochopien stepped up with a kill to force game points and All-American candidate Shaun Powell, who had eight kills in the opening game, was blocked by Matt Mueller and Pochopien giving Lewis the first game. The early deficit would prove costly, as it kept Mason from a potential 3-0 win.
Instead the Patriots were forced to play from behind in the second game. Mason took control of the game early and led most of the way, building a four-point lead at one point. But Lewis came back and even took away the lead, going ahead 26-24. A Mueller service error was followed by an Enrique Escalante error and a Jeff Soler error putting Mason back on top. Escalante answered with a kill and Mason's Dave Egan committed a set error to give Lewis the lead once again. Powell responded with a kill but Mason's Felix Campos committed a service error to give Lewis game point. Escalante helped Mason out with a service error of his own, but Soler put the Flyer up by one with a kill, 30-29. That's when Mason's Hudson Bates took over.
Bates had kills on back-to-back points, and after Pochopien had a kill to make it 31-31, Bates answered off an assist from Egan to make it 32-31. Campos had a solo block of a Mueller attack on the next point and the match was even at 1-1.
The third game was a back-and-forth affair throughout. Each team held leads and neither team seemed ready to take control. That ended when Bates' kill gave Mason a 27-26 and Soler's attack error made it 28-26. Pocophien had a kill to narrow the deficit before Powell answered with one of his match-high 24 kills to make it 29-27. Campos was blocked by Soler and Pocophien on the next point but Powell took matters into his own hands and ended the game, putting Mason ahead 2-1.
From there on out, it was all Lewis. Mason hit just .185 in the fourth game, and the Flyers went up by as many as five. Mason drew to within one on a block by Bates and Steinfurth, but Bates was given a yellow card on the play, giving the point back to Lewis. Powell had a kill on the next play to make it 20-19 but Lewis then won six of the next eight points to take command.
The fifth game saw Lewis break open a 5-4 game and turn it into a rout, going ahead 12-6 and holding on for the 15-9 win.
In addition to his 24 kills, Powell also hit .415 and had a team-high six digs. Bates added 20 kills and five digs, Egan had 58 assists, four digs and five block assists and R.J. Goubeaux added one solo block and six block assists. The Patriots got little production out of Matt Steinfurth who entered the match first in the nation in blocks per game (1.45) and fourth in hitting percentage (.516). He was held to three total blocks and a .000 hitting percentage. Felix Campos also struggled in the match. He had 13 kills but hit just .129 while recording seven service errors.
Pochopien paced Lewis with 15 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. He also had seven block assists. Mueller had 12 kills and hit .450 with eight total blocks while Escalante had 14 kills and seven block assists. Jared Dayton added 13 kills and Solar had 15 kills and five block assists. Brandon Sisk had 62 assists and six digs while J.J. Castellano had a match-high eight digs.
Mason is in action this week against a pair of top 10 teams. The Patriots take on No. 9 California State-Northridge on Wednesday and No. 1 UCLA on Thursday before facing California Baptist on Friday.
