GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VS. No. 12 CSUN
WHEN: Friday, March 9, 2018 at 10 p.m. EST
WHERE: The Matadome (2,400)
RECORDS: Mason (10-7), CSUN (8-7)
SERIES RECORD: CSUN leads 8-5
LAST MEETING: Mason def. CSUN 3-0 [27-25, 26-24, 25-23] on March 11, 2017 (Long Beach, Calif.)
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VS. No. 5 UCLA
WHEN: Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 10 p.m. EST
WHERE: Pauley Pavilion (13,800)
RECORDS: TBD
SERIES RECORD: UCLA leads 11-0
LAST MEETING: UCLA def. Mason 3-0 [23-25, 12-25, 20-25] on Jan. 5, 2016 (Fairfax, Va.)
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UCLA Match
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FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's volleyball team will take a brief break from EIVA play with a trip to southern California to take on No. 12 CSUN (Friday) and No. 5 UCLA (Saturday), as well as a match with UC-Irvine the following Tuesday. CSUN and UCLA will represent the ninth and 10
th teams ranked in the AVCA top-15 Mason will face this season.
Mason accumulated 40 votes in the March 5 AVCA poll. Unlike the previous two weeks, Mason was one of two teams to receive votes from outside the top-15, joined by Fort Wayne. Despite the 3-2 setback against Princeton, Penn State remains in the top-15 at No. 11. It is the seventh week in a row the NIttany Lions are the lone EIVA representative in the AVCA DI-II poll.
The Green and Gold rank first in the EIVA with a perfect 6-0 record and sit two games ahead of Penn State (5-2) and Harvard (5-2) in the loss column. The current positioning sets Mason up to control their own destiny throughout the rest of conference play, while having a home match against Penn State and two home matches against Harvard left on the schedule.
PATRIOT POINTS
• George Mason has begun conference play with a 6-0 record with the most recent wins coming in 3-1 and 3-0 fashion at Sacred Heart last weekend. The 6-0 EIVA record places the Patriots in first place and is the best start to conference play since the 2011 season.
• Mason begins its second portion of non-conference play with a three-match slate against AVCA top-15 teams. The first two, CSUN and UCLA, the Patriots have played within the last two years – including last year's 3-0 victory over the Matadors.
• The Green and Gold have been strong on the pins during their recent six-match winning streak. All three starting pin hitters have averaged at least 3.00 kills per set in conference play:
Hayden Wagner (3.85),
Kyle Barnes (3.45) and
Christian Malias (3.07). Barnes leads the bunch with a .446 attack percentage during the winning streak and has hit at least .300 in all six matches. Barnes has also compiled 14 kills in four of his last five matches to tie his career high.
• Barnes will enter the weekend 14 digs shy of 200 for his career and one solo block shy of his 10
th career. Other career milestones to watch include
Langston Payne sitting at nine total points sway from 300 and
Brian Negron needing 22 assists to reach 500 on the season.
• Wagner has logged at least 10 kills in four straight matches, and is coming off a .529 performance (10-1-17) against Sacred Heart on March 3. In the March 3
rd matchup against the Pioneers, Wagner fell one dig shy of a double-double, but his nine digs set a new career high. The York, Pa. native was electric at the service line, posting six service aces over the course of seven sets played. The six aces were split into three for each match against Sacred Heart, a total that tied Wagner's career high.
• The big performance maintained Wagner's spot at the top of significant statistical categories in the EIVA and thrusted him into the top-15 of national leaders. His 3.64 kills per set ranks first in the EIVA and 14
th in the nation, while his EIVA leading 4.56 points per set puts him ninth in the country. Wagner also checks in at sixth in the NCAA for aces per set (0.532), an average good for second in the conference.
• Sophomore
Bryce Gatling continued his steady presence at the net with 10 total blocks in seven sets played against Sacred Heart. In his six starts this year, Gatling is now up to 25.0 total blocks (1.19 per set) on the season and second in the EIVA with 1.25 blocks per set in conference play. The Norfolk, Va. native notched six blocks on March 3 at Sacred Heart to tie his career high – two of them coming on solo fashion which set a new career high.
• Graduate student
Johnny Gomez recorded his sixth double-digit dig match of the season at Sacred Heart (March 2) which marked the 40
th of his career. The 14-dig performance was one shy of tying his season high and was the fourth time this season Gomez has posted 14. The Indialantic, Fla. native has been used as the primary libero in the last five Patriots matches and has helped the Green and Gold hold opponents to an attack percentage under .100 on three of them – including most recently at Sacred Heart (March 3) where the Pioneers hit .057 on the match.
• In his 14 matches as the team's setter, senior
Brian Negron has averaged 10.15 assists per set and has eclipsed 40 or more five times. Negron leads the EIVA with a 10.45 assist per set average in conference play.
• RS-freshman
Jack Reese reclaimed the top spot for blocks per set in the EIVA at 1.07. That average is the 11
th highest among all DI-II men's volleyball players.
• As a team, Mason leads the EIVA in kills per set at 12.16. As of Wednesday, the team ranks seventh in the nation aces per set (1.69), 12
th in blocks per set (2.37), 14
th in attack percentage (0.276) and 13
th in kills per set.
• 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);
Hayden Wagner - Off The Block/MoltenUSA Opposite of the Week (Feb. 26);
Hayden Wagner - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 26);
Johnny Gomez - EIVA Defensive Player of the Week (Feb. 26).
HISTORY VS. CSUN
Friday will be the 14
th meeting between the Patriots and Matadors and the second straight year the two programs will face off. Last year's meeting was the second straight-sets win over CSUN and the first win overall since 1992, snapping the Matadors' five-match series winning streak. The 2017 contest saw
Jack Wilson and
Sam Greenslade post double-digit kills, as well as
Bryce Gatling notch six total blocks. A Patriots win on Friday would be the second time the program has won consecutive matches against CSUN in the short history between the two teams.
A LOOK AT THE MATADORS (8-7, 0-2 Big West)
CSUN, picked to finish third in the Big West, is coming off back-to-back losses to No. 1 Long Beach State and will play their final non-conference matches of the regular season this weekend. The Matadors' biggest strength is at the service line where they lead the nation in aces per set at 1.94. Leading the charge is Arvis Greene, Jr. at 0.51 aces per set and Dimitar Kalchev with 0.45 aces per set. Those numbers rank seventh and 15
th in the country respectively. Through 15 matches, Green, Jr. has been the Matador's primary attacker ranking third in the NCAA in attacks per set and second in kills per set (4.59).
HISTORY VS. UCLA
The 2018 squad has an opportunity to be the first George Mason men's volleyball team to defeat UCLA on Saturday. Of the 11 matchups, UCLA has been ranked in the AVCA top-five seven times and were the four-time defending national champions in the Patriots' 1985 season opening matchup at the Linn Memorial Gym – a match that set the program record of 2,800 spectators.
Christian Malias tallied 12 kills in the last matchup in 2016 to lead the team, and did it on 21 attempts for a .333 attack percentage.
A LOOK AT THE BRUINS (15-5, 4-2 MPSF)
UCLA, picked to finish second in the MPSF, has dropped four of its last six matches – albeit against Long Beach State, Pepperdine and BYU. The Bruins have thrived in non-conference play with an 11-3 record with six of the wins coming against AVCA top-15 teams. Despite the recent setbacks, UCLA emerged victorious in its most recent outing against Pepperdine by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday night. The Bruins' offense is run by AVCA All-American Micah Ma'a who ranks fourth in the nation in assists per set at 10.66. The smooth setting has paved the way for sophomore Daenan Gyimah to lead the nation with a .526 attack percentage and four double-digit kill matches under his belt while chipping in 1.15 blocks per set to rank ninth in the nation. Senior Christian Hessenauer contributes 3.39 kills per set on the attack to level at 6th in the MPSF.
