MEN'S VOLLEYBALL (3-6, 1-0 EIVA) VS COKER (5-3)
WHEN: 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 12, 2016
WHERE: RAC Gym, Fairfax, Va.
SERIES RECORD: First meeting in history
LIVE STATS: GoMason.com
LIVE VIDEO: Patriot Vision ($)
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL (3-6, 1-0 EIVA) VS LEES-McRAE (0-6, 0-5 CC)
WHEN: 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016
WHERE: RAC Gym, Fairfax, Va.
SERIES RECORD: Mason leads series 4-0
LIVE STATS: GoMason.com
LIVE VIDEO: Patriot Vision ($)
Fairfax, Va. – George Mason University's men's volleyball team will seek to continue its run of positive results when it welcomes Coker and Lees-McRae to the RAC in third-straight weekend of home-court action.
Mason earned its first weekend sweep under first-season head coach Jay Hosack last week by ending Pfeiffer's run at perfect season in four sets on Friday and returning to action the following night to defeat Limestone in straight sets.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Mason's opponent on Friday afternoon, Coker, which does not belong to a Div. I-II conference yet, comes into the weekend with a 5-3 record after playing opposition across all three divisions so far this season. Two of the Cobras' defeats came in the hands of teams which Mason already faced this season – Ohio State and Limestone. Both defeats came in straight sets on the road.
Brazil-born junior attacker Artur Cabral is having an outstanding season for the Cobras, averaging a team-high 2. 67 kills per set in 24 sets, most played by a Coker player. Cabral is also one of the two Cobras with 15 aces to his name this season while Coker as a team averages 2.62 aces per set, exactly an ace more than its opponents. Another Brazilian, freshman Joao Victor Santos, has made a name for himself in his first season and leads the Cobras' defense with 26 digs on the season (1.44 digs per set), five more than seniors Liam Flaherty and Luke Hansen. Another senior, Leshon Alexander, averages nearly a block per set and will be the biggest threat at the net for Mason's attackers on Friday.
On Saturday, Lees-McRae will make its fifth trip to Fairfax in program history in hopes to take a first set from the Patriots after failing to do so in the previous four occasions. The Bobcats are having somewhat of “a rebuilding year” in the words Mason's coach Hosack and are still looking for their first win of the season after six consecutive defeats, five in Conference Carolinas play.
Toward the end of January Lees-McRae began a 10-match road trip, during which they took a set from No. 15 Saint Francis, one of the Patriots' conference opponents, proving that the Bobcats can make their opponents pay if underestimated.
