MEN'S VOLLEYBALL vs. UC SAN DIEGO
WHEN: Thursday, January 4th / 10 p.m. ET
WHERE: Santa Barbara, Calif. / Robertson Gymnasium
RECORDS: Mason (0-0), UC San Diego (0-0)
HOW TO WATCH: Follow on
Live Stats
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL vs. UCSB
WHEN: Friday, January 5th / 7:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: Santa Barbara, Calif. / Robertson Gymnasium
RECORDS: Mason (0-0), UCSB (0-0)
HOW TO WATCH:
ESPN + or Follow on
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MEN'S VOLLEYBALL vs. CSUN
WHEN: Saturday, January 6th / 5 p.m. ET
WHERE: Santa Barbara, Calif. / Robertson Gymnasium
RECORDS: Mason (0-0), CSUN (0-0)
HOW TO WATCH: Follow on
Live Stats
Fairfax, Va. – The George Mason Men's Volleyball team will begin its season by traveling to the West Coast for the UCSB E-Bar Invitational held in Santa Barbara, California. The three opponents that Mason will be facing (UC San Diego, UCSB, and CSUN) are from The Big West Conference.
The Patriots concluded the 2023 season with a 13-15 overall record and a conference record of 4-6. Mason finished 4th in the EIVA Conference behind Charleston, Princeton, and Penn State. Head Coach,
Jay Hosack, returns for his ninth season but with a new assistant, Roger Peluso. 16 players from the 2023 season will be returning for the Patriots including the leaders in kills, assists, service aces, digs, and blocks.
Omar Hoyos led the team with 322 kills in 90 sets and averaged 4.18 points per set.
Georgi Zahariev had the most assists, 816. He scored 112.5 points as well and averaged 1.22 points per set.
Liam French had 30 service aces during the 2023 season but was also second in kills (338.5) behind Omar.
Paul Wyszynski led the defensive work for George Mason accumulating 154 digs and
Lucas Little also led the team in blocks (70). During the 2023 season, three Mason players received the honors of Defensive Player of the Week;
Lucas Little (February 6th),
Paul Wyszynski (February 27th), and George Zahariev (March 20th).
Liam French received the honor of Offensive Player of the Week (March 13th) and later on,
Omar Hoyos also received the same recognition (March 20th).
There have been new additions to the squad as well,
Jackson Herbert,
Derek Nagel, Franco Roark,
Robert Evangelista,
Blake Pohevitz,
Sebastian Sanchez,
Alex Wright, and
Gabe Metcalf. The newcomers look forward to starting their collegiate career and to bring back success for George Mason.
"We feel confident that our product this year is better than the last couple of years, which we were in rebuilding mode. Now we have some experienced players that are hungry to earn respect from the rest of the country", said
Jay Hosack. "We are happy to get to Santa Barbara and play against some of the top teams in the Big West, and see where our game is at this time of the year."
Scouting UC San Diego (0-0)
UC San Diego ended their 2023 campaign with an overall record of 8-17 and a conference record of 2-8. Their leader in kills last season, Ryan Ka, graduated and leaves the responsibility of scoring points to Josh Schellinger who was second in the team with 202 kills. Evan Boyles is returning this season after leading the team with 183 digs. Nick Rigo is also returning after leading the team with 67 blocks.
They have played one scrimmage this season against Calgary on December 30th and UC San Diego came out victorious winning 3 sets to one.
Scouting UCSB (0-0)
Santa Barbara concluded last season with a record of 8-17 and a conference record of 3-7. Ryan Wilcox was their main player leading the team in kills (312), service aces (33), and in digs (173). Wilcox graduated last year leaving a big hole for someone to replace him. Dain Johnson led the team in blocks (38) and Jack Walmer led the team with 906 assists, both players have returned to play in the 2024 season. UCSB defeated UC San Diego in the first round of the 2023 Big West Championship but then lost against the eventual champions, Hawaii.
Scouting CSUN (0-0)
CSUN 2023 record was 12-16 and a conference record of 1-9. They return with their team leader in kills Kyle Hobus (341, 3.59 per set), assists Donovan Constable (820, 9.01 per set), digs Taylan Cook (153, 1.56 per set) and blocks Kyle Hobus (64, 0.67 per set).
