The George Mason men's volleyball team suffered its first Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association loss of the season on Saturday as the Patriots fell at home to No. 11 Penn State, 3-0. The Patriots hit the ball well early but the Nittany Lions hit 46 percent in the match as they beat Mason, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20.

For the first time all year the Patriots failed to have a player reach double figures in kills as Max McFarland and Mark Jones each had eight kills while Piotr Dabrowski and Eric Lucas each had six. McFarland added nine digs but the Patriots were outblocked, 11-4. Penn State got 16 kills from Joe Sunder and 15 from Tom Comfort while Edgar Goas had 34 assists, nine digs and five kills on seven attacks. The Nittany Lions had just nine attack errors in the match.

The first game was tied at 16-16 but Penn State used a 3-0 edge to go ahead 19-16. After a McFarland kill, the Nittany Lions ran off four straight points to make it 23-17 as they cruised to the 1-0 lead. In the set, Penn State hit .538.

The second set saw Penn State jump out early and keep control throughout. Mason trailed 4-1, 8-4 and 15-10 before finally putting together a rally. The Patriots went on a 5-2 run to make it 17-15 and force a Penn State timeout. The set remained close at 19-17 when the Nittany Lions once again used a run, this time 3-0, to put the Patriots on their heels and serve out the set.

The final set again saw Penn State go ahead 4-1 but the Patriots tied the contest at 5-5 and then again at 7-7. For much of the remaining set, the Nittany Lions held either a one or two point lead until they used a 6-2 run to turn a 15-14 game into a 21-16 affair. The Patriots couldn't break through after that as the Nittany Lions finished off the match, handing Mason just its second home loss of the season.

The Patriots return to the court next weekend when they are on the road at IPFW on Friday and Ball State on Saturday.