March 25, 2005

Box Score

The George Mason men's volleyball team returned home after a West Coast swing and the friendly confines of John Linn Memorial Gymnasium were quite welcoming for the Patriots as Mason was able to handily defeat Mount Olive College, 30-23, 30-28, 30-17. The win snapped a season-high four-match losing streak for Mason.

A pair of Mason starters, R.J. Goubeaux and Felix Campos, sat out the match while starting setter Dave Egan played just one game and starting opposite hitter Shaun Powell played just two games. The Patriots hit .380 in the match while Mount Olive, which had just seven available players, hit .164.

The first game saw Mason (15-7) establish its strong play at the net early. The Patriots hit .323 in the opening game and had three blocks. The second game was the highlight of the match as the Trojans (3-8) jumped out to an early 14-10 lead and stayed with the Patriots throughout until Mason served out the final two points for a 30-28 win. The third game saw Mason dominate from start to finish. The Patriots hit .520 in the final game while Mount Olive hit -.056.

Mason's Kyle Swanson was unstoppable at middle hitter. He has 10 kills on 12 attacks with no errors for a .833 hitting percentage. He also had four digs. Matt Steinfurth, the other middle hitter, had 12 kills and hit .556 in the match. He finished with two solo blocks and seven blocks assists. Hudson Bates had 9 kills and seven service aces, one shy of Campos' school record of eight in a match. Bates also had four digs. Powell had nine kills, four digs and three service aces while Egan had 14 assists in his one game. Billy Freesmeier played setter the final two games and he amassed 29 assists. Arturo Barreiro played just one game and he finished with six kills.

Mason was unable to slow down Mount Olive's Michael Kren who had seven kills and hit .429. Jason Fernandez had five kills and hit .571 but they were the only Trojans to have any consistent success. Julio Arnais had a match-high five digs, as did Mason's Graham Sheppard.

The Patriots are in action again on Saturday when they host Springfield College at 2 p.m.