FAIRFAX, Va. - Six George Mason standouts earned All-EIVA honors, based on a list that was announced Tuesday. Senior Brian Negron (Bayamon, Puerto Rico), junior Kyle Barnes (Virginia Beach, Va.) and sophomore Hayden Wagner (York, Pa.) were named to the All-EIVA First Team, while RS-senior Christian Malias (Orlando, Fla.), graduate student Johnny Gomez (Indialantic, Fla.) and Jack Reese (Pittsburgh, Pa.) each earned second-team honors.

Negron, Barnes and Wagner being named to the first-team marks the first time since 2013, and just the sixth time ever, that the Patriots boasted three or more players on the first-team. Negron, who also took home this year's Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Player of the Year, tallied four matches of 50 or more assists and topped out at 57 vs. Mount Olive (Jan. 19). The 2015 EIVA Newcomer of the Year posted 55 assists in his last full regular season match of his collegiate career vs. Harvard (April 13), a match the Patriots won 3-2 to clinch the regular season EIVA title. Negron finished first in EIVA only assists per set (10.10) and guided George Mason to a .275 team attack percentage that checked in at 14th nationally.

Barnes led the Patriots with a .272 attack percentage among pin hitters and hit .400 or higher eight times (Min. 9 TA). His .684 clip (14-1-19) in the Patriots' 3-0 win vs. Princeton on Feb. 17 marked his career best. The Virginia Beach, Va. native was selected as EIVA Offensive Player of the Week twice this season. His first collegiate honor came on Feb. 19 thanks in large part to his outing vs. Princeton two days earlier, followed by being tabbed the conference's best on offense of the week on March 26. That week he compiled 22 kills on .400 hitting throughout George Mason's two straight-set victories at Charleston (W.V.).

Wagner's first-team nod gives the Patriots an opposite hitter on the first-team for the second consecutive season. Wagner had a monster season, leading the EIVA in kills per set and points per set up until the last week of the regular season, and became just the 11th Patriot to register 300 kills in a rally-scoring era season. He notched three matches of 20 or more kills, most notably his career-high 25-kill night at NJIT (March 30) to help guide the Green and Gold to an EIVA Tournament-clinching win. Wagner was named EIVA Offensive Player of the Week twice, once after his dominant 24-7-37 (.459) performance vs. Mount Olive (Jan. 19) and a little over a month later when he averaged 4.43 kills per set in wins against No. 7 Penn State and Saint Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 23-24. He finished the season compiling double-digit kills in seven of his final eight matches in the regular season.

Malias mirrors his 2016 season by earning second-team honors. An injury-plagued season limited him to 75 sets, but managed to finish 10th in the EIVA with a 2.75 kills per set average. The RS-senior notched two double-doubles to tie Negron as the program's active career leader with three, one of which came in Mason's 3-1 victory vs. No. 14 Ball State (Jan. 28). On the second to last match of the regular season, Malias notched his 500th career dig to become the third Patriot to post 500 career kills and 500 career digs among those who played in the rally-scoring era.

2018 is the third straight year Gomez has been named to an All-Conference team, joining Radoslav Popov, Kyle Gramit, Hudson Bates and Matt Steinfurth (four times) as the only Patriots to be named to an All-Conference team three times since the EIVA began naming first and second teams in 1994. The team's co-captain was named EIVA Defensive Player of the Week twice this season (Jan. 22 and Feb. 26) and finished eighth in the nation in digs per set (2.53). He posted double-digit digs 11 times in 2018 and had over 200 in a season for the third time in his career - second time with George Mason.

Reese completes the trio of Patriots on the second-team, marking the third time the program had three players selected to the second team. In his first year with the program, Reese finished sixth in the EIVA in blocks per set at a 0.95 clip and was named EIVA Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 29. His nine total blocks vs. GCU (Jan. 6) remains the highest total posted by a Patriot this season. The Pittsburgh, Pa. native had arguably the best performance of his career in the second to last match of the season vs. Harvard (April 13) by logging 16 kills and 18.0 points for his second double-digit kill match of the season. His five in the fourth set helped the Patriots send the match to a decisive fifth frame, with a Reese kill sealing the deal at 27-25. 

The Patriots won the regular season EIVA title for the first time in the current conference alignment and will host the EIVA Tournament. The first match for the Green and Gold is Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. vs. Princeton at the RAC.

Click here to read official EIVA release.

For official George Mason Men's Volleyball Player/Coach of the Year release.

2018 AWARDS & HONORS ARCHIVE

• Johnny Gomez - Preseason Off The Block/SpringBak Inc. Top Player from Florida
• Hayden Wagner - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (Jan. 22)
• Johnny Gomez - EIVA Defensive Player of the Week (Jan. 22)
• Jack Reese - EIVA Defensive Player of the Week (Jan. 29)
• Kyle Barnes - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 19)
• Hayden Wagner - Off The Block/MoltenUSA Opposite of the Week (Feb. 26)
• Johnny Gomez - EIVA Defensive Player of the Week (Feb. 26)
• Hayden Wagner - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 26)
• Kyle Barnes - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (March 26)
• Will Calaman - EIVA Defensive Player of the Week (April 16)

• Brian Negron - First-Team All-EIVA
• Kyle Barnes - First-Team All-EIVA
• Hayden Wagner - First-Team All-EIVA
• Christian Malias - Second-Team All-EIVA
• Johnny Gomez - Second-Team All-EIVA
• Jack Reese - Second-Team All-EIVA