Mason (0-3) vs. NJIT (2-2)
WHEN: Friday, 11 a.m.
WHERE: Walsh Gymnasium; South Orange, N.J.
LIVE STATS:  LINK
 
Mason (0-3) vs. Seton Hall (2-1)
WHEN: Friday 5 p.m.
WHERE: Walsh Gymnasium; South Orange, N.J.
LIVE STATS:  LINK
LIVE VIDEO:  LINK
 
Mason (0-3) vs. Saint Peter's (0-3)
WHEN: Saturday, 12 p.m.
WHERE: Walsh Gymnasium; South Orange, N.J.
LIVE STATS: LINK
 
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's volleyball team will look to pick up its' first win of the 2023 season this weekend when it travels to South Orange, N.J. for the Seton Hall Classic.
 
The Patriots (0-3) will kick off the tournament on Friday morning with an 11 a.m. match against NJIT, which will mark the first meeting between the two programs. Mason will then play the host Pirates at 5 p.m., who the Patriots fell to at the same tournament a year ago. The Patriots will then wrap up the weekend on Saturday at noon against Saint Peter's, another first-time opponent.
 
On opening weekend, Mason dropped three matches in the DC Challenges, including two tight 3-2 losses to American and Howard. In her first weekend as a Patriot, graduate student Nani Spaar shined, leading the offense with 3.08 kills per set. She was also a major contributor on the defensive side of the ball, posting two double-doubles with a career-high 19 kills with 14 digs against American and 12 kills with a career-high 15 digs against Howard.
 
PATRIOT POINTS

• Junior Ewelina Gacek also had a career-weekend, posting a personal best 18 kills and two solo blocks against American 
• The middle duo of junior Camille Larkin and freshman Chelsea Colter led Mason defensively at the net with 13 and 12 blocks, respectively. Larkin leads the Patriots with three solo blocks and Colter leads with 11 block assists
• Graduate student Gracie Halley paced the defense with 3.69 digs per set
• Senior Grace Kristofic and redshirt-sophomore Damiana Bova-Ford split setting duties throughout the weekend as Bova-Ford dished out 62 assists and Kristofic tallied 58

 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
NJIT opened the 2023 season at the Hofstra Invitational last weekend on Long Island, going 1-2 with a win over Siena and losses to the host Pride and Delaware State. The Highlanders then evened their record in a mid-week match-up with Central Connecticut State, downing the Blue Devils 3-0 on the road.
 
Adriana Goetz-Morales and Sara Siefert lead NJIT on offense, averaging 3.15 and 3.11 kills/set, respectively, and both average over .300 in efficiency. Pacing the offense is Juliana Imaglia, who has dished out 65 assists over four matches, and is second on the team with 31 digs. Defensively, Doga Emil averages 3.08 digs /set while Taylor West and Rowan Schreiber have both registered a team-high 11.0 blocks.
 
Seton Hall opened the season on the west coast at the UCI Invitational, going 2-1 against opponents, including 3-0 sweeps over San Francisco and host UC Irvine. Graduate student Madeline Matheny and freshman Senna Roberts-Navarro were both named to the All-Tournament team. Robert-Navarro was also awarded the Big East Freshman of the Week honor for her performance.
 
Matheny and Roberts-Navarro pace the Pirates' offense as they both average 3.00 or more kills per set. Pacing the attack are setters Taylor Jakubowski and Maddie Klungel who have dished out 47 and 46 assists, respectively. On the defensive side of the ball, Rylee Nelson averages 5.25 digs per set while Asli Subasili has tallied 14.0 blocks and is the only Seton Hall player in double-digit blocks.
 
Saint Peter's traveled to New York and played in the Bearcat Classic to open the 2023 season. The Peacocks went 0-3 with losses to Merrimack, host Binghamton and Atlantic 10 member Duquesne. 
 
Georgia Remmers leads the Peacocks with 18 kills across all 10 sets and started all three matches last weekend. In the setter's position, Lilly Konrad is dishing out just under four assists per set with a total of 39. Defensively, Crystal Nguyen leads Saint Peter's with 34 digs (4.25/set) and Morgan Thurlow has a team-best 8.0 blocks.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots will return to Fairfax to host the first of two home tournaments. The Mason Invite will feature Brown, Robert Morris and Radford on Sept. 8-9. Mason will open with Brown on Friday at noon.