April 7, 2007

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason (9-9, 5-5 EIVA Tait Division) started off strong in the annual UV Memorial Match against No. 6 Penn State (19-6, 12-0 EIVA Tait Division) at John Linn Memorial Gym on Saturday evening, but were unable to pull off the upset of the last unbeaten team in the EIVA Tait Division, falling in four games to the Nittany Lions.

After staving off four game points by Penn State, the Patriots lost a closely contested first game, 32-30, when the Nittany Lions scored the final two points of the game off a kill by freshman Max Lipsitz and a service ace by senior Alex Gutor. George Mason actually held a late two-point lead at 25-23 in the first game but couldn't hold on as Penn State scored the next four points to open up a two-point lead of its own.

In the second game, the Patriots played their best volleyball of the evening, cruising to a 30-19 win to even the match at a game apiece. Mason took its first lead of the match at 3-2 when redshirt freshman middle blocker Erik Lanham and redshirt freshman opposite hitter William Price combined to block Penn State's Matt Anderson. The Patriots never relinquished the lead in the game, hitting a sizzling .353 to the Nittany Lions' -.065.

Penn State regrouped to win the third game by a final score of 30-25 and never trailed in the fourth game, downing the Patriots 30-20 to close out the match.

Price led Mason with 19 kills and three aces in the match, while sophomore outside hitter Kyle Gramit chipped in 17 kills to go along with seven digs. Redshirt freshman setter Ryan Kwiatkowski paced the Patriots with 39 assists and Lanham led the team with four total blocks.

Four players reached double figures in kills for Penn State as Anderson finished with 19, Lipsitz tallied 16, Gutor chipped in 11 and sophomore Max Holt recorded 10. Junior setter Luke Murray led all players with 51 assists in the match.

George Mason currently sits in fourth place in the EIVA Tait Division with its 5-5 mark in conference play. Penn State clinched the EIVA Tait Division title with its flawless 12-0 record and has earned the right to host the EIVA Championship semifinals and final, slated for Thursday and Saturday, April 26 and 28, at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.

The Patriots return to action on Friday, April 13 when they host East Stroudburg in a 7 p.m. EIVA Tait Division match at John Linn Memorial Gym.