On March 26, 2004, the Penn State men's volleyball team dropped a four-game match to Rutgers-Newark in the Scarlet Raiders' home gym. Since then, though, the No. 9 Nittany Lions had not lost against an EIVA team. But on Saturday, almost two years to the day, the Lions' streak against conference teams was snapped in a 3-1 (30-26, 18-30, 22-30, 21-30) loss at the hands of No. 15 George Mason, in Fairfax, Va.
The Patriots (18-5, 7-1 EIVA) had been trading blows with the Lions (13-7, 9-1) atop the EIVA, until Penn State cemented itself as the top team in 3-0 victory on Feb. 25. With the win, George Mason again ties things up at the top in the conference.
"I think [the loss is] a sign of mortality," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "And I think in the long run that helps. There's no room for complacency."
After winning Game 1, the Lions' level of play dropped off, which proved disastrous as George Mason's play steadily improved.
"It just seemed like they had a pretty high energy and execution level and we kinda dropped off [after Game 1] and they never let up," Pavlik said. "Everything was rolling for them."
George Mason exposed the Lions and was able to steamroll past them, thanks to the likes of standout outside hitters Shaun Powell and Hudson Bates. Powell finished with a team high in kills (17) on .387 hitting, while Bates notched 15 kills on .522 hitting. The duo helped George Mason to .432 hitting, while the Lions hit only .165.
"We walked into the gym thinking it was an EIVA team, we should easily beat them," freshman outside hitter Matt Anderson said. "They just outworked us. It kinda looked like we gave up. They picked up their game a lot more."
Anderson was one of only two Lions to hit double digits in kills (12), while senior co-captain Matt Proper tallied a match-high in kills (18), but hit only .268.
Pacing the Lions' offense was sophomore Luke Murray, who dished 47 assists. Murray, who only stands at 6-feet, has become one of Penn State's best blockers, too, and has stepped up in helping with the Penn State block over the past two matches. Against the Patriots, Murray led with three solo blocks and as a team, Penn State only managed eight blocks.
By contrast, George Mason was solid with its block and notched 15, led by the efforts of senior middle hitter Matt Steinfurth. Steinfurth, one of the nation's leading blockers, tallied an incredible 12 blocks, including five by himself.
"Some of their players played out of their minds," senior co-captain Nate Meerstein said. "It came to a point in the third and fourth games when they could do no wrong. The breaks went their way."
