April 11, 2009

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FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's volleyball team lost 3-0 to No. 7 Penn State in front of 1,178 fans on Saturday evening in the Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Match at the Field House. Saturday's match was the first-ever Dig Pink event hosted by a men's volleyball team.

During Saturday's match, the Patriots (11-14, 4-6 EIVA Tait) wore special white Asics jerseys with pink and black lettering. Sophomore Eric Lucas wore a black libero jersey with pink and white lettering. Commemorative George Mason Dig Pink t-shirts were sold at the event, with proceeds from the sales benefitting the Side-Out Foundation in its quest to raise money to fund research in the ongoing fight against breast cancer.

Once the match got underway, the Nittany Lions (23-3, 12-0 EIVA Tait) took an early lead when junior William Price recorded a kill for the first point of the night. Penn State never trailed in the first set on its way to a 30-25 win.

Mason nearly took the second set from the defending national champion Nittany Lions but were unable to hold on to a seven-point lead. Trailing 24-17, Penn State mounted a comeback, evening the score at 29 before taking a 34-32 win off of a Ryan Sweitzer kill, one of his 15 on the night. The Nittany Lions carried the momentum from their second set victory into the third, closing out the match with a 30-19 win.

Junior Kyle Gramit recorded a double-double in the match with 10 kills and 10 digs to lead the Patriots in both categories. Freshman Shaun Sibley finished with five kills and a match-high six blocks.

Five players finished with double-digit kills for Penn State, which hit .409 in the contest. Leading the way was freshman Joe Sunder, who recorded 16 on 27 swings. Sophomore Dennis Del Valle recorded a match-high 18 digs for the Nittany Lions.

In the last meeting between the two sides at the Field House on March 7 of last year, Mason handed Penn State its only loss of the season with a 3-1 victory. The win marked the first victory over a top-ranked team in the history of the Mason volleyball program, putting an end to Penn State's streak of 18 consecutive victories to open the season in the process.

The Patriots return to the court on Friday, April 17 with a 7 p.m. EIVA Tait Division match against Princeton.