MEN'S VOLLEYBALL vs. No. 19 New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
WHEN: Friday, February 27 (6 p.m.)
WHERE: The RAC | Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: George Mason (7-6, 1-2 EIVA); No. 19 NJIT (10-5, 4-0 EIVA)
ALL-TIME SERIES: George Mason leads, 28-10; last met
last week on Feb. 20 in Newark (No. 19 NJIT won 3-0) split season series last year:
Feb. 7, 2025 - NJIT won 3-2 |
March 14, 2025 - George Mason won 3-1
LIVE STATS: Click Here
WATCH (ESPN+) FEB. 27: Click Here
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL vs. Dominican University of New York
WHEN: Sunday March 1 (2 p.m.)
WHERE: The RAC | Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: George Mason (7-6, 1-2 EIVA); Dominican (4-10, 0-0 East Coast Conference)
ALL-TIME SERIES: First-ever meeting
LIVE STATS: Click Here
WATCH (ESPN+) MARCH 1: Click Here
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason Men's Volleyball team will return to the Recreation Athletic Complex (RAC) this weekend to host EIVA opponent No. 19 NJIT on Friday to conclude their home-and-home series with the Highlanders. The Patriots will then open March with a Sunday match against Dominican University of New York.
TROPICAL SHIRT GIVEAWAY
On Friday's game, the first 150 fans will receive a voucher for a free tropical shirt for Friday's 6 p.m. match that can be picked up after the third set.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, George Mason (7-6, 1-2 EIVA) split their New Jersey road trip. The Patriots lost to No. 19 NJIT but regrouped to take the win on the second day against FDU. Both games were decided in straight sets.
On Friday, the Patriots lost their EIVA match the Highlanders. Even in the loss, George Mason put up more points (54.5 to 50.5), kills (41 to 35), aces (six to four) and assists (39-35) than the Highlanders Sophomore pin hitter
Aidan Weltin and junior outside hitter
Robert Evangelista both recorded double-digit kills on the evening with 11 and 10, respectively. The Patriots also recorded two more aces than the Highlanders but 11 more service errors and seven more attacking errors.
The following day, George Mason overpowered FDU in a Saturday sweep. Led by strong defense, they beat FDU in straight sets and put up more points (49.0 to 44.0), kills (39 to 33), blocks (eight to five), assists (37 to 32) and digs (36 to 17) than the Knights.
SCOUTING No. 19 NJIT
NJIT's season ended last year's season in an upset loss, when the second-ranked Highlanders fell to No. 3 and eventual champion Penn State in the EIVA Tournament. In the conference's preseason coaches' poll, the Highlanders were picked to finish second, just one spot above the Patriots. NJIT is currently ranked 19
th in
this week's AVCA National Collegiate Poll.
The Highlanders (10-5, 4-0 EIVA), after starting the season 0-5 due to a particularly heavy schedule consisting of No. 2 Hawaii, No. 14 Ohio State and No. 16 Ball State, are currently on a 10-game winning streak.
Their last three games have been EIVA matchups, first of which was a 3-1 ranked win over No. 19 Princeton on Feb. 6 then a two-game sweep at Harvard on Feb. 13-14. NJIT currently has the most conference wins in the EIVA.
Sophomore opposite hitter Wiktor Nowak is the team's leader in kills with 191. The Siedlce, Poland, native had a career-high 29 kills on Feb. 6 against Princeton and was later named the league's Defensive Player of the Week, as he also recorded six blocks and four digs over the Tigers that weekend.
Freshman outside hitter Andre Aleixo is NJIT's second hitter with over 100 kills on the season. The Brasília, Brazil, native has 175 kills and has had three games where he has made at least 16 or more kills. In his game against the Patriots last week, he delivered a game-high 14 kills en route to a Highlander victory.
On defense, middle blocker Daniel Latkowski was named last week's Defensive Player of the Week. The freshman from Avenel, N.J., made 15 blocks, averaged 1.88 blocks per set and averaged 1.75 kills per set on his way to lead the Highlanders to their 2-0 weekend over the Harvard Crimson.
STAT LEADERS
PATRIOTS (13 games played) | HIGHLANDERS (15 games played)
HISTORY WITH THE HIGHLANDERS
The Patriots hold a commanding 28-10 all-time series lead over the Highlanders. The two schools split last year's series, both winning their games at their respective home courts. This season, the Patriots lost to NJIT on their home court last week in Newark.
The Highlanders took the first game in Newark with a
five-set thriller on Feb. 7, 2025. A little over a month later in Fairfax on
March 14, the Patriots took a commanding 3-1 over NJIT. in Fairfax.
SCOUTING DOMINICAN
Dominican finished last season 6-22 with a 3-3 East Coast Conference (ECC) record. This year, in their third official season, the Chargers (4-10, 0-0 ECC), were picked to finish third in the four-team conference in this season's preseason poll, with one first-place vote given to them as well.
The Chargers were on a four-game losing streak before snapping it to D'Youville last Saturday, beating the Saints 3-1. Before that win, they had lost back-to-back games to UMES (Feb. 5-6) and lost another pair to FDU (Feb. 13), 3-1, and Daemen (Feb. 20) in five sets.
Before playing the Patriots on Sunday, the Chargers will play a road game against Princeton. Dominican has not begun conference play yet and will not do so until March 14-15, when they will host Roberts Wesleyan and American International College.
Junior outside hitter Phinehas Wiley is the team's leader in kills with 210. Wiley has recorded six games in which he has made 19 or more kills for the Chargers, with his Jan. 10 loss to Merrimack tying his career-high of 24. The Cedarburg, Wis., native has also been named as the ECC's Player of the Week twice. He currently records 4.12 kills per set and a .283 attacking percentage.
Ayden Shaw, another junior outside hitter for the Chargers, was named this week's ECC player of the week. The Centennial, Colo., product had 26 kills and 24 digs this past week, collecting 16 kills in their 3-2 loss to Daemen as well as 10 in their win over D'Youville. He also has the second-most kills on the team with 145.
On defense, middle blocker Tommaso Falchi leads the team in blocks with 39. The Spoleto, Italy, native recorded his season-high in total blocks on Jan. 30 against Sacred Heart with six, one-shy of his career high that he recorded twice his freshman year at Harvard (March 23, 2023) and John Jay (Feb 24, 2023).
STAT LEADERS
PATRIOTS (13 games played) | CHARGERS (14 games played)
HISTORY WITH THE CHARGERS
This will be the first-ever meeting between the Patriots and the Chargers.
UP NEXT
George Mason will travel to North Carolina next week for two games. On Friday, March 6, the Patriots will play Queens University of Charlotte at 7 p.m. The following day, they will play Belmont Abbey in Belmont at 4 p.m.
