After wins over Navy and George Mason this past weekend the men's volleyball team was tired and sweaty. But it had fun.

The Lions (11-9) beat the Midshipmen 15-8, 15-7, 15-6 on Friday March 24 at Rec Hall. The next day the Lions avenged a previous loss to the Patriots of George Mason 19-17, 7-15, 15-13, 15-11.

"We're having fun out there," co-captain Robert Pierce said. "That's the key. We weren't having fun early in the year, and without that you just can't accomplish the things you want to do."

"We played really well and had fun, which was the first time in awhile," Chris Chase said. "We had a meeting and said if you don't want to work hard for every point don't even suit up."

The Midshipmen (9-15) delayed the Lions' fun a little in the first game as they jumped out to a 4-2 lead. The Lions knotted the score at 6-6 on a Chase block, and gave up only two more points after that. They ended the first game on a John Wasielewski kill.

After falling behind 0-2 to start the second game, the home team went out to a 6-2 lead on a Guillo Silva kill. The Midshipmen got as close as 4-6, but the Lions pulled away and won, 15-7.

Peterson pulled most of his starters at the end of the third game to let the reserves have fun, too. Jim Schall, the shortest player on the team at a listed 5' 10", used a jump serve. He knocked the ball into the net, but the Lions went on to win, 15-6.

"We played much better, and we were consistent," Peterson said. "We were up for the match both physically and emotionally."

The Lions won the first game against George Mason (8-9) in a 45-minute marathon after falling behind 1-8 to start the game. They scrambled back to 8-10 and went ahead, 15-14. The Patriots did some scrambling of their own and went ahead 17-16, but the Lions fought back to win, 19-17.

After dropping the second game, 7-15, the Lions fell behind in the third game, 7-8. They came to tie it at 11-11, and went on to win 15-13 on a Chase kill.

The Patriots went up 4-1 in the final game, but the Lions came back to tie it at 5-5 in one of many ties. With the score knotted at 10-10, a Silva kill moved the Lions in front for good. A Chase kill ended the scoring at 15-11.

"We gutted out a win," Peterson said. " I think we can do some technical things a little bit better. For us to beat them, we had to work very hard, which we did."

"Last time (in George Mason's victory) that was when we were in our slump," setter Scott Miller said. "But now we're really coming back and getting on a roll."