Feb. 21, 2004

PRINCETON, N.J. - The George Mason men's volleyball team hit the road over the weekend to take on a pair of Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association schools and the road trip was a sour one as the Patriots fell to Rutgers-Newark and Princeton, each in straight sets.

The road trip began on Friday evening when the Patriots traveled to Newark to face the Scarlet Raiders. The first set was the tightest one in the match as the Patriots held a three-point lead late in the match, including a game-point, 29-28. But the Scarlet Raiders ran off three straight points to take the first set behind a Henry Richardson kill, a Dustin Crosby attack error and a Byron Goff service ace.

The second set saw the Patriots fall behind by six points early, 13-7. They rallied to pull to within one at 19-18, but Rutgers-Newark ran off 11 of the set's final 16 points to win it 30-24 take a 2-0 lead. The final set was simply academic as the Scarlet Raiders won it 30-21 to improve to 8-1, 5-4 on the year.

Felix Campos had 19 kills in the game and a .317 hitting percentage. Arturo Barreiro had 10 kills and Graham Sheppard had 11 digs. Rutgers-Newark outhit George Mason, .221 to .127.

On Saturday, the Patriots visited Princeton University (7-4, 2-2) and the Patriots again fell in straight sets. In each set the Patriots (0-10, 0-3) held a late lead before the Tigers rallied to take the win. Campos had 20 kills in the loss while Barreiro had nine. The Tigers outhit George Mason, .312 to .181