FAIRFAX, Virginia – The George Mason men's volleyball team earns three All EIVA honors, including the Bob Sweeney EIVA Coach of the Year, Fred Chao. Joining Coach Chao is Radoslav Popov, who earned Newcomer of the Year and first team honors, and Hunter Stevens, who was named to the All EIVA Second Team.
These honors highlight a successful season for Coach Chao and the team, in which the Patriots made its 14th consecutive EIVA semifinals appearance. Last season, six Patriots were selected for All-EIVA honors, including Co-Player of the Year Mark Jones.
Coach Chao guided this team to a 14-13 record, while going 8-6 against conference opponents. That mark earned the Green and Gold the fourth seed in the EIVA tournament. This is Chao's third EIVA Coach of the Year award; he previously won the award in 2001 and 2008.
A native of Razlog, Bulgaria, freshman Radoslav Popov enjoyed a highly successful year on both offense and defense. Popov, a two-time EIVA Offensive Player of the Week and one-time EIVA Defensive Player of the Week selection, was awarded the EIVA Newcomer of the Year award.
In just his freshman season, Popov was also named to the All-EIVA First Team. The outside hitter led the Patriots with 246 kills on the season with 3.0 kills per set. Popov was also a force on defense, finishing second on the team in digs (126) and third on the team in blocks (50). Popov, who missed a few games to injury, came back in a strong way to help lead the Patriots to the EIVA semifinals.
Hunter Stevens, who started every match for the Patriots, was selected to the All-EIVA Second Team for the first time in his career. The junior from Newtown, Pennsylvania, was a force on defense, leading the team with 125 total blocks. Not only did Stevens lead the Patriots in blocks, he also led the EIVA conference in blocks with 1.31 blocks per set.
The middle blocker was also a crucial part to the Patriot offense, finishing second in kills with 181 on the season. Stevens also finished fifth in the conference and first on the team with an impressive .376 attacking percentage.
The Patriots travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions in the EIVA semifinals on Thursday. The match is set to start at 7:30 p.m.
