GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VS. SAINT FRANCIS RED FLASH
WHEN: Friday, April 6, 2018 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: RAC Gym (1,550)
RECORDS: Mason (14-10), Saint Francis (8-17)
SERIES RECORD: Mason leads 35-15
LAST MEETING: Mason def. Saint Francis 3-1 [25-13, 25-14, 15-25, 28-26] on Feb. 24, 2018 (Loretto, Pa.)
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VS. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
WHEN: Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: RAC Gym (1,550)
RECORDS: TBD
SERIES RECORD: Penn State leads 105-16
LAST MEETING: Mason def. Penn State 3-0 [25-22, 25-19, 25-22] on Feb. 23, 2018 (State College, Pa.)
Please plan on showing up early since long lines at the entrance to the RAC gym are expected. All attendees for Saturday night's match will be subject to bag check..
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FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason returns home from its six week road trip to take on Saint Francis (Pa.) and Penn State. The matches are set for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday respectively and will kick-start a stretch of four home matches to close out the regular season.
After the team's two five-set victories this past weekend, The Patriots collected 24 votes in the April 2 edition of the AVCA DI/II poll, the most out of any team outside the top-15. It is the highest amount Mason has earned since the Feb. 26 release when they tallied 30 votes.
The Green and Gold clinched a spot in the EIVA Tournament with its win at NJIT on March 30. The 10-0 EIVA record sees the Patriots in first place in the conference and puts them on the verge of winning the regular season title. Harvard recently advanced past Penn State for the number two spot in the standings and is currently two games behind the Patriots with an 8-2 EIVA record.
PATRIOT POINTS
• George Mason is coming off two 3-2 victories over NJIT and Princeton last weekend to improve to 14-10 overall and 10-0 in EIVA play. The 10-0 conference record puts Mason in first place and is the best start to conference play in program history.
• After being absent from the 2017 version, the Patriots are going back to the EIVA Tournament and now have their sights set on the regular season title. The EIVA Final Four has not taken place in Fairfax since the 1994 season and George Mason has never hosted the Tournament in the era of the host institution being the regular season champion (2000-present). Mason can clinch home court advantage in the EIVA Tournament if one of two scenarios unfolds:
-The Patriots go 2-0 and Harvard loses a match this weekend.
-The Patriots go 1-1 and Harvard goes 0-2 this weekend.
• The 10-match conference winning streak is the longest in program history, surpassing the nine EIVA matches in a row the 2016 team won to close out the regular season.
• The Patriots continue to get results from their pin hitters, most notably sophomore Hayden Wagner and junior Kyle Barnes. Wagner posted a career high 25 kills at NJIT (March 30) and did so on a career high 44 attempts (.364 hitting percentage). Wagner followed that up with his fifth straight match of double-digit kills at Princeton (March 31), this time tallying 19 to put him at 269 on the season for an average of 3.74 kills per set. Barnes wasn't too shabby either as he tied his career high in kills with 14 at NJIT and is seventh in the EIVA in points per set for conference only play (3.75).
• RS-senior Christian Malias racked up his fair share of kills last weekend to complete the Patriots' three-headed monster at the pins. Malias compiled 28 kills over 10 sets for his eighth and ninth matches of double-digit kills this season. The co-captain is aiming to become just the third Patriot in the rally-scoring era to eclipse 500 career digs and kills. Malias has 625 kills on his career resume and will enter the weekend with 478 career digs. Additionally, Malias needs 17 digs to reach the century mark for the third consecutive season he's been on the floor. (2015-16, 18).
• Senior Brian Negron notched his seventh and eighth career matches of 50 or more digs this past weekend. His total of 103 improved his season assists per set average to 9.32 - second to just his Saturday night counterpart Luke Braswell of Penn State. Negron moved into third place all-time in the school record book for career assists, currently boasting 3,520. The Puerto Rico native needs 39 to pass Jonathan Hanners for second all-time in program history.
• On the defensive side of things, graduate student Johnny Gomez looks to reach 200 digs in a season for the second time in three seasons, needing only two do to so in his last year of eligibility. In the last five matches, Gomez is averaging 2.74 digs per set and has tallied 10 or more digs in four of them. The Indialantic, Fla. native logged his 900th DI/II dig at Princeton (March 31) and has sights on career dig number 700 with the Green and Gold. If Gomez tallies 16 more digs this season, he'll become the sixth Patriot ever to reach 700 in his George Mason career.
• Sophomore Bryce Gatling and RS-freshman Jack Reese have been holding down the middle blocker spot for Coach Hosack the last four matches. Gatling has led the team with 15.0 blocks (four solo) in that stretch and is fourth in the EIVA with 1.11 blocks per set in conference play. Reese chipped in 9.0 total blocks (one solo) over his last 13 sets and sits at seventh in the conference with 0.97 blocks per set on the season.
• Team statistics update: Mason leads the EIVA in kills per set (12.37) and assists per set (11.48). As of Thursday, the team ranks 13th in the nation in attack percentage (.278) while checking in at 11th in kills per set and 14th in assists 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); Kyle Barnes - EIVA Offensive Player of the Week (March 26).
LAST TIME VS. SAINT FRANCIS (Pa.)
The Patriots were quick to turn the page after their 3-0 victory over No. 7 Penn State with a 3-1 win over the Red Flash on February 24 to improve to 4-0 in EIVA play. That Saturday in Loretto, Pa. was the first of four times this season that Wagner, Barnes and Malias tallied double-digit kills in the same match, contributing to the team's 53 total. The Patriots jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind a dominand second set where they hit .619 and collected 14 kills. After the Red Flash took the third set, the two teams battled back-and-forth late into the fourth set until back-to-back kills from Barnes and Malias sealed the deal on Mason's first road win at Saint Francis since 2014.
SINCE THE LAST MATCHUP
Saint Francis (8-17, 3-7 EIVA), has struggled since the last matchup against the Patriots, going 1-7 since February 24 and have dropped its last six. Nonetheless, the Red Flash are in a three-way tie for fifth in the conference and are battling for a spot in the EIVA Tournament. Senior Brandon Buck has been the go-to attacker as of late, totaling 93 kills for an average of 3.32 kills per set. The Red Flash can mathematically finish as high as fourth in the EIVA, but will need to jump three teams in order to do so.
LAST TIME VS. PENN STATE
The Nittany Lions (12-9, 7-3 EIVA) got off to a fast start in EIVA play, winning their opening three matches. Despite the fast start, Penn State has dropped to third in the EIVA. Since the first meeting with Mason, PSU is 4-6, and would hold the third seed in the EIVA tournament if the season ended today. Middle blocker Jalen Penrose is second in the country in aces per set (.644) and recorded nine in his last match at Harvard (March 31). Offensively the Nittany Lions are also led by outside hitter Matthew McLaren, who leads the team in kills with 212, and setter Luke Braswell who leads the conference in assists per set. On the defensive side, Penn State is led by libero Royce Clemens who leads the team with 194 digs and is ranked third in the EIVA. Penn State is recently coming off a loss at Harvard in five sets, and has lost five of its last seven.
SINCE THE LAST MATCHUP
The Patriots defeated Penn State back in late February and won in straight-sets in Happy Valley for the first time since April 20, 1985. It was also the first straight-sets win over an AVCA Top-10 team since 1992. Hayden Wagner had a match-high 20 kills along with a match-high 35 assists from Brian Negron. The Patriots defense did a great job of limiting the Penn State attack to a .067 hit percentage and didn't allow a player to post more than seven kills.
