April 28, 2005

Box Score

The George Mason men's volleyball team is returning to the EIVA Championship game for the second time in three years as the Patriots jumped out to a big lead on Juniata, and after struggling to put away the Eagles, held on in the fifth game, defeating the Molten Division III national champions, 30-28, 30-24, 27-30, 27-30, 15-12 at Recreation Hall in University Park, Pa.

Mason (19-9) will face the winner of the Penn State-Rutgers-Newark match on Saturday in the EIVA Finals at 7:15 p.m. That match will be broadcast live on CSTV and the winner will earn an automatic bid to the Final Four. Third-ranked Penn State and Rutgers-Newark were scheduled to play on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Shaun Powell was the hero for 14th-ranked Mason, as he recorded 33 kill and hit .609 in the match. He added eight digs. Matt Steinfurth had 10 kills and 10 digs while R.J. Goubeaux added 11 kills on a .688 hitting percentage. Hudson Bates added 14 kills and five digs while Dave Egan had 66 assists and Graham Sheppard had eight digs. Senior Felix Campos came off the bench for Mason in the fifth game and played well, recording a big kill and a big service ace.

"We made a change that we knew we'd have to make at some point," said Mason head coach Fred Chao. "Felix really stepped up."

Early in the match, it didn't appear as if there would be any need to go to the bench. The Patriots enjoyed a comfortable 20-15 lead in the first game, having had little problem with Juniata's attack. But the Patriots withered over the next 17 points, allowing Juniata (20-8) to outscore them 12-5. Down 27-25, Mason rallied, though, first with a Powell kill, then with a block by Powell and Goubeaux to tie the match at 27-27. After a Swanson service error left Mason down by one, Powell and Goubeaux had back-to-back kills to give Mason game point. Powell closed out the opening set with his eighth kill of the game. Egan had 16 assists in the opening game as Mason hit .324. Juniata hit .367 in the opening game.

Much like the first game, Mason went up early on Juniata in the second game. Powell had a kill, Goubeaux and Steinfurth had a block and Goubeaux had a kill to give Mason a 12-7 lead. The Patriots slowly extended that lead, taking a 28-20 edge. After each team committed service errors, Powell closed out the game with his 13th kill of the match, giving Mason a 2-0 lead. The Patriots hit .379 in the second game and held Juniata to a .200 hitting percentage. The Patriots had three total team blocks in the second game and Egan added 14 more assists.

The third game saw Mason trail for almost the entire time. It wasn't until Juniata's Nathanael Ocasio committed an attack error with the score tied 20-20 that Mason was able to take a lead. The Eagles found themselves trailing 23-21 before they rallied to win five straight points and take a 26-23 lead. From there the teams traded points, mostly on service errors, as Juniata held on for a 30-27 win in the third game, cutting Mason's lead to 2-1. The Patriots hit just .290 in the third game while Juniata hit .364. Ocasio and Nick Bernardo each had four kills in the game.

The fourth game looked bad for Mason from the start. Juniata broke open an 8-8 game and built a 19-14 lead. But Mason rallied behind Powell. After Jeremy Barndt committed a service error, Powell had kills on four of the next six points to make it 21-19. But Juniata showed why they are the top team in Division III, as they rallied to take a 25-21 lead. The Patriots wouldn't get closer then two the rest of the way as Juniata won the fourth game, 30-27. Mason hit .536 in the fourth game but Juniata hit .783, not committing an attack error. The Eagles had 18 kills on 23 attacks in the game. Ocasio and Barndt each had six kills in the game to offset 12 kills from Powell.

The fifth game was as tense as would be expected. Neither team led by more than a point until Goubeaux had back-to-back kills to give Mason a 10-8 lead. After four straight service errors, Bernardo had a kill for Juniata to make it 12-11. Powell responded with a kill but then committed a service error to make it 13-12. The final two points came courtesy of Campos, who had a kill to make it 14-12 and a service ace to finish the match, 15-12.

Juniata got 17 kills from Nick Bernardo on a .517 hitting percentage. Ocasio added 18 kills while Barndt had 12. Ziegler added four kill on a .444 hitting percentage to go with 54 assists and nine digs. Tim Cole also had nine digs.