April 26, 2008
Box Score
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Playing in the EIVA Championship Match for the first time since 2005, No. 11 George Mason was unable to defeat top-ranked Penn State for the second time this season to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball Championships, held next weekend in Irvine, Calif. The Nittany Lions defeated the Patriots by final scores of 30-24, 33-31 and 30-23 to capture their 10th consecutive EIVA title and 20th in the history of the program.
With the loss, Mason, the second seed in the conference tournament, ends its season with a 20-8 overall record, while top-seed Penn State improves to 28-1 overall and advances to the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd time in its history. The only school to knock off the Nittany Lions all season long was the Patriots, who beat the Penn State by a final score of 3-1 on March 7 at the Fieldhouse, giving Mason its first victory over a No. 1 team in the 34-year history of the men's volleyball program.
Mason was unable to duplicate that feat in the championship match, however. In the first game, Mason fell by a final score of 30-24. With the score tied at 18, Penn State scored six straight points. The run proved to be the decisive margin of victory in the game.
The Patriots pushed the Nittany Lions to the brink in the second game, which featured 17 ties and eight lead changes. George Mason rallied from deficits of 27-21 and 29-26 to tie the score at 30. The two sides alternated the next two points before Penn State won the final two on an attack error by senior outside hitter Mark Burik and a combined block by Max Lipsitz and Matt Anderson on junior opposite hitter Kyle Gramit's swing.
In the third game, the Patriots fell behind 5-4 after an Anderson kill. The Patriots were unable to mount a comeback and fell by a final score of 30-23 to drop the match by a final score of 3-0.
The loss ends the careers of seniors Hudson Bates, Burik and R.J. Goubeaux. In his final match, Bates finished with seven kills, four digs and three blocks. Burik totaled four kills, five digs and three blocks. Goubeaux recorded four kills, one ace and two blocks.
A win on Saturday would have given George Mason its first berth in the NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball Championships since the 1988 season. Despite the loss, the Patriots enjoyed a great deal of success during the 2008 season. Mason was ranked in every single CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top-15 Poll during the season, reaching a high of No. 11. Six Patriots were named to the EIVA All-East Team. Bates, Goubeaux and Gramit were all named to the First Team, while Burik, sophomore setter Ryan Kwiatkowski and sophomore libero Luke Maloney were all named to the Second Team. Mason head coach Fred Chao took home EIVA Coach of the Year hardware.
