STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Feb. 1, 2002 -- Sixth-ranked Penn State swept George Mason in straight sets Friday night at Rec Hall, 30-16, 30-23, 30-26. The Lions improve to 4-2 overall, 2-0 in EIVA action while the Patriots fall to 1-2, 1-1 in conference play.
Junior opposite Zeljko Koljesar (Kitchener, Ontario) led the Lions with 15 kills and four blocks while hitting .565 on the night. Tallying 14 kills was junior outside hitter Carlos Guerra (Tamaulipus, Mexico) while swinging at a .700 clip. Junior Zach Slenker (Dallastown, Pa.) continued his near-flawless streak with 10 kills on 14 attempts with only one error. On the season, Slenker has only seven errors on 103 attempts with 71 kills (.621). Also stepping up for the Lions was sophomore Norm Keil (St. James, N.Y.) who hit .444 with six kills, including five in the third stanza. Senior Jason Hawkins (Lake Mary, Fla.) chipped in four kills while junior Kevin Hodge (Dublin, Ohio) added three.
Defensively for Penn State, Slenker and libero Ricky Mattei (San Juan, Puerto Rico) led the team with five digs, while Koljesar and setter Jos¨¦ Qui?ones (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) tallied four apiece. Sophomore Rhonee Rojas (Mililani, Hawaii) added two digs while serving up two big aces to put the second game out of reach. Qui?ones directed the offense for the Lions, dishing out 42 assists while also putting away two kills and tallying two blocks.
As a team, Penn State outblocked the Patriots 7.5-2.5 and outhit George Mason .549 to .160, including limiting them to a .000 hitting percentage in the first game.
Penn State returns to action Saturday, Feb. 2 against the second-ranked Cardinal of Stanford at 8:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on WMAJ 1450 AM or on the official website of Penn State athletics, www.GoPSUsports.com.
For complete game statistics, visit the men¡¯s volleyball homepage at www.GoPSUsports.com
In the first game of the evening, 10th-ranked Lewis stunned second-ranked Stanford in five games, 30-24, 32-30, 28-30, 32-34, 15-11. Freshman Gustavo Meyer led Lewis with 21 kills while four other Flyers recorded double-digit kills. Junior Kevin Miller tallied nine blocks for Lewis in the win. Stanford junior outside hitter Curt Toppel recorded 30 kills while three of his teammates also notched double-digit kills. Lewis outblocked Stanford 14.5-11 while Stanford outdug Lewis 38-32. Stanford falls to 5-4 overall on the season and Lewis improves to 4-3.
