No. 2 Penn State Men’s Volleyball Advances To NCAA Championship Semifinal
Proper and Meerstein lead Lions in four-game win over No. 14 George Mason
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 29, 2005 – Junior Matt Proper (Guys Mills, Pa.) pounded a career-high 26 kills and junior Nate Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) posted a career-high-tying 10 blocks as the second-ranked Penn State men’s volleyball team defeated No. 14 George Mason in four games (30-20, 30-19, 30-32, 30-24) Saturday night in the EIVA Championship match in front of 2,046 fans.
With the win, the Nittany Lions claim their 17th EIVA Tournament Championship and advance to their 20th NCAA Tournament. Penn State will participate in the NCAA Semifinal on Thursday, May 5 in Los Angeles against an opponent to be determined on Sunday, May 1. Also with the win, Penn State secures its first 30-win season since 1982.
Proper was named the EIVA Championship Most Valuable Player and joins teammates Gary Vogel, Dan O’Dell, Keith Kowal and Nate Meerstein along with George Mason’s Matt Steinfurth and Shaun Powell on the EIVA All-Championship team.
Proper’s 26 kills were a match-high and sophomore Alex Gutor (State College, Pa.) posted 12 kills on .526 hitting as Meerstein recorded 11 kills and hit .444. Senior Keith Kowal (Reading, Pa.) notched nine kills and junior Kevin Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added seven kills. As a team, Penn State hit .386 (69-19-127) while holding the Patriots to a .167 clip (55-32-138).
Junior setter Dan O’Dell (Rochester, N.Y.) dished out 56 assists and freshman libero Gary Vogel (Lancaster, Pa.) produced a match-high 14 digs, his 10th double-digit dig match of the year. Vogel is now just 26 digs away from becoming the all-time single-season digs leader.
Penn State outblocked George Mason, 14.5 to 11.0, led by Meerstein with a career-high-tying 10 blocks. Proper tallied seven blocks as Wentzel and Kowal each added three stuffs and O’Dell notched two.
The Patriots were led by Shaun Powell with 22 kills as Hudson Bates chipped in 10. Dave Egan directed the offense with 44 assists and Felix Campos led the squad with eight digs. Matt Steinfurth topped the team with nine blocks.
A Proper kill to make the score 5-3 in the first game sparked a 14-6 Nittany Lion run to give Penn State the 19-9 lead. George Mason fought back to within seven aided by consecutive service aces from Powell but a kill from O’Dell put Penn State ahead 24-15 before a Patriot attack error ended the game, 30-20. Proper led the Lions with six kills on an errorless seven attempts to hit .857 as Meerstein and Proper produced two blocks each.
The Nittany Lions again jumped out to the early lead in the second game, going up 10-6 on a Proper kill before back to back kills from Meerstein and Proper pushed the lead to 15-8. A triple block from Wentzel, Meerstein and O’Dell made the score 20-11 and another Meerstein kill pushed the advantage to 22-12. A Kowal put-away gave Penn State the 27-18 lead and a block from Meerstein and Proper ended the game, 30-19. Proper again led all players with five kills as Penn State hit .621 in the stanza (20-2-29).
George Mason came out of the break with a renewed sense of urgency, never trailing by more than three points early on. A Kowal kill put Penn State ahead 14-11 but a Mason kill from Matt Steinfurth and an ace from Powell trimmed the Lion lead to one at 14-13. The teams traded points several times before a Penn State attack error and a Patriot block put them up 21-20 and forced a Nittany Lion timeout. Out of the break, George Mason remained on fire, producing two blocks and a kill to take the 24-21 lead. The teams traded points twice and back to back blocks from Mason’s Steinfurth and Egan pushed the Patriot lead to 27-23. Consecutive Penn State kills from Proper and Meerstein trimmed the lead to two at 27-25 and the teams traded points twice before a Gutor kill pulled the Lions to within one at 29-28 and forced a Mason timeout. Another Gutor kill out of the break knotted the score at 29-29 and the teams exchanged kills before two kills from Powell awarded Mason the game, 32-30. Proper notched six kills as Gutor tallied five and Proper and Meerstein each contributed three blocks. For George Mason, Matt Steinfurth produced seven blocks in the game alone.
Game four remained close early on, with two kills from Proper and another from Wentzel breaking the 13-13 stalemate to put the Lions up 16-13. George Mason fought back to tie the game at 19-19 and the squads traded points before two Proper kills and a Patriot attack error gave Penn State the 23-20 advantage. A block from Meerstein and Wentzel pushed the Lion lead to four at 25-21 before a solo Meerstein stuff made it 27-23. Penn State scored three of the next four points, aided by consecutive Mason attacking errors and capped by a Proper kill, to take the game, 30-24. Proper pounded nine kills in the set as Meerstein provided two blocks.
The NCAA Championship selection show will air on ESPNEWS on Sunday, May 1 between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. ET. The Nittany Lions join MIVA Championship winner and No. 10 Ohio State, MPSF Championship winner and No. 1 Pepperdine and an at-large team chosen by the NCAA Championship committee at the NCAA Championship hosted by UCLA on Thursday and Saturday, May 5 and 7.
Please visit
www.GoPSUsports.com for more information on the Penn State men’s volleyball team and the 2005 EIVA Championship.
