WHEN: March 1 and March 2, 2019
WHERE: Recreation Athletic Complex
OPPONENT: Sacred Heart – 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday
LIVE STATS
LIVE STREAM: Friday |
Saturday
FAIRFAX, Va. – No. 14 George Mason men's volleyball wraps up its four-game homestand with a pair of matches against Sacred Heart this weekend. The Patriots battle the Pioneers at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Recreation Athletic Complex.
NO. 14 IN THE NATION
After going 1-1 last weekend, the Patriots dropped to #14 in this week's AVCA DI-DII Coaches Poll. The Patriots have remained in the poll for six consecutive weeks and continue to be the only ranked EIVA team.
LAST TIME OUT
In front of a sellout crowd, the George Mason Patriots swept EIVA rival Penn State on Feb. 22. The win marked the second time in program history the Patriots swept the Nittany Lions in Fairfax, Va. The last time the Patriots earned a 3-0 home victory over Penn State was on April 21, 1984 in the EIVA Championships.
On Sunday, the Patriots fell to Saint Francis (Pa.) in four sets to drop to 10-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Junior
Sam Greenslade led the Patriots with a season-high 16 kills and season-high four blocks.
FINALISTS FOR PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Junior
Hayden Wagner and senior
Will Calaman are finalists for Off the Block's Player of the Month award. Wagner, nominated in the Opposite Division, has averaged 4.08 kills per set and 1.12 blocks per set in the month of February. Calaman, nominated in the Libero Division, has recorded four matches with double digit digs this month – good for 2.28 digs per set in February.
The first round of online voting closes Thursday, Feb. 28 at 10 p.m. (CT). To vote for Wagner and Calaman,
click here. The championship round will be a two-day voting event with the polls closing at 10 p.m. (CST) Saturday.
UP NEXT
Mason heads west for a trio of matches. The roadtrip begins with #4 Pepperdine on Tuesday, March 12 at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT). The Patriots then head to Phoenix, Ariz., for a pair of matches against Grand Canyon on March 15 and 16.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Sacred Heart: 2-8, 1-4 EIVA
Sacred Heart recently earned its first conference win last weekend over NJIT in four sets. The next night, the Pioneers fell to the undefeated Princeton Tigers in straight sets.
The Pioneers are led by outside attacker Emerson Waumans (3.32k/s) and Noah Ricchetti (8.30a/s). Defensively, Rob Chatterton and Taylor Bloomquist are each averaging more than one block per set.
Mason leads the all-time series, 13-3. The Patriots defeated Sacred Heart in both matches in 2018, only dropping one of the seven sets.
