April 23, 2005

Box Score

Shaun Powell had a big night. So did Dave Egan. And Matt Stienfurth. And Hudson Bates. And those big nights, including a couple of record-setting performances, allowed George Mason to survive in the opening round of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament, defeating St. Francis (Pa.) 28-30, 30-24, 30-28, 30-28 at John Linn Memorial Gymnasium in Fairfax.

Powell recorded the 1,000th kill of his career, finishing the match with 31 kills and a career total of 1,012. The junior reached the milestone in the third game and never looked back. Dave Egan, meanwhile, playing for the final time at Linn Memorial Gym, broke his own school record for single-match assists in the rally-scoring era. He had 74 assists, breaking his old mark of 69, which had been set in five games. Egan was able to tally so many assists because Bates and Steinfurth kept finding the floor. Bates had 22 kills and hit .432 while Steinfurth had 18 kills, hit .500 and had nine digs.

Powell also reached another career milestone as he had four digs, giving him 350 digs for his career. He also added four block assists. Graham Sheppard had a career-high 13 digs while Kyle Swanson added six kills and six block assists.

Mason hit .382 in the match but struggled to pull away from St. Francis, which hit .323. The two team were tight when it came to digs, with Mason recording 37 to the Red Flash's 36. Mason had nine total team blocks while St. Francis was limited to three.

Mason had no answer for St. Francis' middle hitter, Marc Honore. He had 14 kills and hit .458. Just as impressive was Jonathan Sherrick, who had 13 kills and hit .600. Jim Fazzini added 13 kills and Mark Steele had 54 assists. Zach Nanni had 11 digs.

St. Francis' season came to an end as the Red Flash finished with a 13-12 overall mark. They were the champions of the Hay Division and they are expected to move back up to the Tait Division next year. Mason (18-9), the second seed, advances to play Juniata in the semifinals of the EIVA Tournament. That match will be played on Thursday at Penn State University, the tournament's top seed. Juniata defeated Princeton in the opening round of the tournament, 3-1.

Mason's match with Juniata will begin at 5 p.m. The winner will take on the winner of the Penn State-Rutgers-Newark match, which will be played at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The championship match will be played at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday and carried live on CSTV.