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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Mar. 31, 2005 - The third-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team (23-3, 9-0 EIVA Tait) plays host to George Mason (16-7, 7-2 EIVA Tait) on Friday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall.

Gametracker will be available at www.GoPSUsports.com and admission to the match is free.

Previewing Penn State
The Nittany Lions enter the contest with George Mason on a seven-match winning streak, their last loss coming on March 8 at the hands of then-No. 1 UCLA. Penn State defeated Juniata in four games on Wednesday night to improve to 9-0 in the EIVA Tait.

Five Nittany Lion players are averaging more than 2.00 kills per game, led by junior opposite Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) with 3.99 kills per game and sophomore outside hitter Alex Gutor (State College, Pa.) with 3.36 kills per game. In addition, junior middle hitter Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is adding 2.86 kills per game, senior middle hitter Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) is posting 2.50 kills per game and junior outside hitter Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is chipping in 2.14 kills per game.

Junior setter Dan O¡¯Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) directs a majority of the offense with 12.50 assists per game, breaching 1,000 assists for the season in the match at Princeton on March 27 (1,050). Freshman setter Luke Murray (East Petersburg, Pa.) has also seen action in 33 games for the season, dishing out 192 assists for an average of 5.82 per game.

Freshman libero Gary Vogel (Lancaster, Pa.) leads the team with 2.35 digs per game as sophomore Aaron Smith (Richmond, Va.) adds 1.30 digs per game to go along with his 1.51 kills per game.

Kowal leads the Penn State blocking machine with an astounding 1.65 blocks per game as Meerstein posts an impressive 1.42 blocks per game. Proper adds 1.26 blocks per game, Smith chips in 0.92 blocks per game as O¡¯Dell records an average of 0.87 blocks per game.

As a team, Penn State is hitting .353 with 15.27 kills per game, 1.27 service aces per game, 8.61 digs per game and 3.85 blocks per game.

What¡¯s Next
The Nittany Lions take to the road to face No. 13 Ohio State on Sunday, April 3 in Columbus. Penn State won both of the previous meetings this season, a four-game victory on Jan. 29 and a three-game win on Feb. 19.

For more information on the Penn State men's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.