WHO: Men's Volleyball vs Harvard @ 2016 EIVA Championship
WHERE: Rec Hall, State College, Pa.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, Harvard 0
KEY PLAYERS: Christian Malias – 11 kills (match-high), .714 hitting, 6 digs (match-high); Paco Velez – 11 kills (match-high), 5 service aces (match-high); Garrett Kollar – 7 kills, .500 hitting; Johnny Gomez – 6 digs

State College, Pa. – For a second year in a row, George Mason University's men's volleyball team defeated Harvard in the semi-final of the EIVA Championship to advance to Saturday's final of the conference tournament. The Patriots' success on Thursday came in straight sets and avenged the two regular-season losses to Harvard back in February.

MATCH NOTES

-Two players finished with double digits in attack in the match, both of them Patriots – redshirt senior and junior captains, respectively, Paco Velez and Christian Malias had 11 kills apiece, while also combining for six aces. Malias had one of the highest attack efficiencies in the match at .714. In addition, Malias and junior libero Johnny Gomez had 6 digs apiece, most by any player in the contest.

-Harvard's scoring leader Branden Clemens again had a team-high performance for the Crimson with 9 kills. Alec Schlossman led Harvard on the defensive end with 6 digs.

-Mason was impeccable in attack early in the first set and pulled away by six at 11-5 with four Patriots hitting 1.000 over the course of the run, which forced Harvard's first timeout. Head coach Jay Hosack's men kept their foot on the gas and a kill by Velez increased the lead to eight at 16-8. The opposite hitter stepped up to serve immediately after and racked up four consecutive aces to add further to Mason's momentum and lead, 20-8. Hosack made a serving substitute with Mason leading 24-11 and introduced walk-on freshman Aaron Cymbor to the match. A tough serve by the State College, Pa. native gave Harvard's back row problems and resulted in a set-winning block by sophomore setter Brian Negron and redshirt senior middle blocker Dom Edgley for 25-11.

-Kills by Clemens and Schlossman gave Harvard a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set but Mason rallied back and another Velez ace tied the score at 3 all before a kill by Malias put the Patriots in front for the first time in the set, 4-3. That was the last time the teams exchanged the lead as Mason took control of the set but could not pull away by more than two points. The Crimson even came on level terms once at 13 all when they capitalized on an attack error by Velez. The Patriots then responded with a 4-1 run that culminated with Malias' solo block on Clemens, which increasead Mason's advantage to three points at 17-14 and forced Harvard into a timeout. The Crimson capitalized on two additional attack errors by Mason to come within one at 18-17 and 19-18, but the Patriots withstood the pressure and finished the set on a 6-3 run as Velez closed the set at 25-21 with his seventh kill of the match.

-Hosack called his first timeout of the match early in the third set after a kill by Brad Gretsch gave Harvard a two-point lead at 9-7. The call broke the Crimson's momentum and they committed five errors of different type, an opportunity on which Mason capitalized to get back in the lead at 14-12. Aggressive serving paid off for the Patriots once again later in the set as junior outside hitter recorded back-to-back aces to give his team the largest lead of the set at 20-15. For the remainder of the set – and match – Harvard never got within fewer than four points and thus Mason won its eighth-straight match to reach the EIVA Championship final for the second time in as many years.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

“We executed the game plan pretty well. Winning a set 25-11 against any opponent is quite a feat, but we knew that Harvard was not going go down without a fight, and sure enough they did. Hats off to my guys for putting their foot on the gas late on to finish it off in the third set.” – Mason's head coach Jay Hosack, 2016 EIVA Coach of the Year

STAT BREAKDOWN

-Mason's dominance was reflected by the team's .423 hitting performance while Harvard combined for .169. The Patriots recorded 15 more kills than the Crimson, 41-26.

-The Patriots were aggressive from behind the service line all match long and accumulated 8 aces while the Crimson had only 2, one apiece from setter Marko Kostich and Brad Gretsch.

-The teams combined for only 38 digs in the match and Mason had the lion's share of them, 22-16.

-Velez, Malias and sophomore setter Brian Negron each had a solo block to their name while Kollar contributed three block assists for Mason's 8 team blocks. Harvard combined for 3 team blocks in the match.

NEXT ON THE COURT

In Saturday's final, Mason will face the fourth-seeded Saint Francis (Pa.), who came back to defeat top-seeded and tournament host Penn State in four sets for the second time this season in the other semi-final.