Men's Volleyball to Face Pair of Nationally Ranked Opponents in California

GAME NOTES

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The IPFW Mastodons are set to face off against No. 15 George Mason and No. 3 Long Beach State in action at the Active Ankle tournament hosted by Long Beach State this weekend.

Opponent: No. 15 George Mason Patriots (9-8)
When: March 14, 2013 | 10 p.m. EST
Where: Long Beach, Calif. | Walter Pyramid (4,200)
Live Stats: Long Beach State Gametracker

Opponent: No. 3 Long Beach State 49ers (14-6)
When: March 16, 2013 | 10 p.m. EST
Where: Long Beach, Calif. | Walter Pyramid (4,200)
Live Stats: Long Beach State Gametracker

SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS

George Mason comes into the Active Ankle Challenge with a 9-8 overall record, recently climbing into the top-15 in the AVCA Poll.

The squad has won four of its last five games, with the only loss coming to seventh ranked Lewis in five sets. The last match, a 3-0 win over Rutgers-Newark, saw Mark Jones pace the squad with 10 kills, as the team hit .432 in the match, and Rutgers-Newark never scored more than 20 points in a set.

This season it is Jones providing the team lead in kills with 173, whie Andrew Dentler and Michael Kvidahl knocking down 146 and 137 kills, each. Javier Perez has 619 assists on the year, as Kvidahl has 14 service aces.

Max McFarland has a team-best 143 digs, as two regular blockers, Piotr Dabrowski and Pat Sibley average over a block per set at 1.29 and 1.06, respectively.

SCOUTING THE 49ERS

Long Beach State, currently ranked third in the country according to the AVCA Coaches Poll, comes into the game riding a two-match losing skid, falling to No. 2 UC irvine and No. 5 UCLA, with the team's only other four losses coming via UC Irvine (twice more), No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 4 Pepperdine.

In the loss to UCLA, the 49ers won the first two sets, only to see the Bruins fight back to win the final three sets. Taylor Crabb led the team with 21 kills, while Dalton Ammerman had 15 in the losing effort. Andrew Sato had 16 digs, while Taylor Gregory had six blocks.

Crabb leads the team this season with 335 kills, while Dalton Ammerman has 206. Two others, Colton Chave and Jeff Ornee, have over 100 kills this year. Connor Olbright has 825 assists, while Ammerman leads the team with 17 service aces.

Defensively, four players have eclipsed the 100-dig plateau with Sato leading the way with 153, as Crabb (136), Ammerman (123), and Olbright (120) all sitting well over 100 on the year. Taylor Gregory leads the team with 83 blocks, with Echave close behind with 69.

TOUGH COMPETITION

Two MIVA opponents appear in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll, with two more also receiving votes. In all, IPFW faces off against five teams currently in the top-15 of the Coaches Poll (Long Beach State/3rd, Lewis/7th, Ohio State/9th, Penn State/13th, and George Mason/15th).

ALL-TIME SERIES

IPFW and George Mason have met 44 times on the volleyball court, with the Patriots holding a slim 23-21 advantage in the series. The Mastodons had a 19-15 lead in the series, before the Patriots rattled off eight wins in the past 10 games, to push George Mason ahead in the series.

Long Beach State has taken the last 12 games of the series between the two teams, and the 49ers have a 19-3 advantage in the all-time series between the teams.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Men's Volleyball to Face Pair of Nationally Ranked Opponents in California

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