Jan. 27, 2006

Final Stats

Fairfax, Va. - Strong setting and blocking led the Patriots to a three-games-to-one (30-25, 35-33, 25-30, 30-20) victory against Rutgers-Newark on Friday night at the inaugural Patriot Games tournament at John Linn Memorial Gym.

Redshirt senior Bryan Newcomb set his teammates up for the kill all match long, tallying 56 assists on the night. The Patriots single-match record for assists in the rally-scoring era (2001-present) is 74, set by Dave Egan against St. Francis (Pa.) on April 23, 2005. Three players found themselves on the receiving end of a majority of Newcomb's assists - Shaun Powell, Hudson Bates and Matt Steinfurth. Powell once again led Mason with 17 kills on the night. Bates wasn't far behind with 15 and Steinfurth chipped in with 12.

Mason tallied 22.5 blocks as a team, with Steinfurth notching one solo block to go along with 11 assists. The Patriots strong play in the blocking game helped hold Rutgers-Newark to a paltry hitting percentage of .139 in the match.

In other tournament action, St. Francis (Pa.) improved their record to 2-3 on the season with a win against the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (30-17, 35-33, 30-19).

The final day of the Patriot Games tournament includes two Mason matches, against St. Francis (Pa.) at 1:30 p.m. and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez at 7:30 p.m. The complete schedule for the final day of the first-ever Patriot Games tournament is as follows:

11 a.m., Rutgers-Newark vs. University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

1:30 p.m., George Mason vs. St. Francis (Pa.)

5 p.m., Rutgers-Newark vs. St. Francis (Pa.)

7:30 p.m., George Mason vs. University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Admission to the final day of the tournament will be $7 for adults, $4 for youth and senior citizens and $3 per ticket for groups of 10 or more. Group tickets must be purchased in advance by calling the ticket office at (703) 993-3270.