The No. 12 men's volleyball team capped a perfect weekend with an incredible comeback win over George Mason, 14-16, 8-15, 16-14, 15-12, 16-14, Saturday night at Fairfax, Va.

The Patriots (16-15, 4-3 in the EIVA) outplayed the Lions early and won the first two games. George Mason led 9-3 in the third game before Penn State fought back.

"That was one of the best comebacks I have ever coached," Coach Tom Peterson said. "We made some rallies and defensive saves that were just incredible. Our whole team just decided to play as hard as they could."

"I think at the beginning of the match some people came out flat and it showed," outside hitter Charlie Bertran said. "As the match went on we were really steady, we were not emotional at all, and we pulled it together."

Guillo Silva led the Lions with 33 kills, 10 digs and six blocks. Jorge Perez had 28 kills and nine digs, while Winfield Evens added nine blocks and eight digs.

With the win and Friday night's sweep of Navy, 15-13, 15-11, 15-11, Penn State took two big steps up the EIVA championship ladder. The Lions improved their record to 15-9, 5-1 in the EIVA. The two wins allowed them to keep pace with EIVA frontrunner Rutgers-Newark, which entered the weekend 6-1 in the EIVA.

The straight-game victory over Navy (9-23, 1-4) at Annapolis, Md., was the Lions' third win against the Midshipmen this year. Penn State has never lost to Navy, going 13-0 since the teams' first meeting in 1985.

Friday night's match was the first for the Lions since concluding their home schedule March 9 against East Stroudsburg.

"We started off real slow and real sluggish," assistant coach Mark Pavlik said. "During the match we would play in spurts. We were very choppy against Navy, but we almost expected that after a layoff. The good thing there is the guys worked through it. When it came time to having to do something they did it."

Another bright spot for the Lions was the play of middle blocker Tito Nunez, who led the way with 25 kills and six blocks.

"Tito Nunez had a great game against Navy," Coach Tom Peterson said. "That was his best game ever . . . against Navy he dominated. It was the first time any middle blocker on our team had more kills than our outside hitters."

Guillo Silva had 18 kills and four blocks and Charlie Bertan led the team in digs with 10. Co-captain John Wasielewski chipped in with four service aces.

Next weekend the Lions hit the road again. Penn State competes in the Asics Volleyfest at three different sites.

The Lions play Brigham Young at the University of Scranton on Friday, Ball State at Elizabethtown College on Saturday and Ohio State at Conestoga Valley High School on Sunday.

Following next weekend's action the Penn State enters the stretch run for EIVA championship when it plays East Stroudsburg on April 3.

"It's clear now we have a greater chance (of winning the EIVA) after beating Mason," Bertran said. "We know that we have to look forward to that. We can't think about anything else, we can't think about the Final Four before the EIVA's . . . It was a really big weekend.