Men's Volleyball suffers first conference loss against Penn St.

The George Mason Men’s Volleyball team fell for the first time in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) play, losing to nationally ranked Penn State, 3-0, at the RAC Saturday night.

The Patriots were coming off a win Friday night against Rutgers-Newark, but Penn State showed why they are the No. 11 team in the nation, as they won each set by scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-20. The entire match was competitive, but Penn State would jump out to a lead and not yield it, despite the Patriots’ valiant attempts.

Sophomore outside hitters Max McFarland and Mark Jones led the Mason attack with eight kills each. McFarland also added nine digs.

Penn State countered with a balanced attack that consisted of 31 combined kills between Joe Sunder and Tom Comfort, 16 and 15 kills respectively. Edgar Goas was also very involved, contributing 34 assists, nine digs and five kills.

The key to the match was uncharacteristic attack errors by the Patriots. Shots went too far or too wide, and Penn State made them pay for it, as they only committed nine attack errors of their own for the entire match.

Penn State also used deceptive set plays to disrupt the tempo of the volley. One such play the Nittany Lions executed to perfection throughout the night was on the second shot when the setter would fake his set and go directly for the kill. The second shot is typically used to set the kill.

The loss drops the Patriots to 11-4 overall and 6-1 in the EIVA. Penn State improves to 13-3 overall and 6-0 in the conference. The team will be back in action on the road next weekend at IPFW on Friday and at Ball State on Saturday.