FAIRFIELD, Conn. – For the second consecutive day, the George Mason Men's Volleyball team swept Sacred Heart in straight sets Saturday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center. The Patriots have now won 21 consecutive games against the Pioneers dating back to 2014 and are currently on their second four-game win streak this season.

PATRIOT POINTS

• Aside from blocks, where Sacred Heart had the upper hand seven to four, the Patriots edged out the Pioneers in hitting percentage (.257 to .185), points (45.5 to 39.0), kills (32 to 29), service aces (nine to three), assists (29 to 28) and digs (27 to 19).
• Sophomore pin hitter Aidan Weltin had a game-high 11 kills. Junior outside hitter Robert Evangelista had the second-most kills on the afternoon with 10. Weltin also had a game-high three service aces, followed by Evangelista with two.
• Weltin, senior middle blocker Elijah Lazor and senior setter Georgi Zahariev all had two blocks each.
• Zahariev had a game-high 26 assists as well as seven digs. Weltin was also tied with a game-high seven digs.
• The Patriots recorded a season-high nine service aces for the second time this season. They first recorded nine aces this season last week in their 3-1 win over FDU in Fairfax on March 15.

Similar to yesterday's game, George Mason (14-7, 4-2 EIVA) had a tightly contested first set against Sacred Heart (7-10, 0-4 EIVA) but was able to pull out the win and eventually sweep the Pioneers. The Patriots are two games over .500 in EIVA play.

SET 1: George Mason - 25, Sacred Heart - 23
The first set was the closest contested set of the day, with both George Mason and Sacred heart hitting .379 with 14 kills. Two Patriots (Evangelista and Weltin) and one Pioneer (Zach Flynn) reached five kills, and Sacred Heart had the edge in service aces (two to one) and blocks (four to zero).

The opening set swung back and forth until 4-4, when the Patriots went on a 9-2 run to separate themselves from the Pioneers 13-6. Sacred Heart then went on a 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead to two, but the rest of the set saw the two schools trade points all the way until the Patriots took the 25-23 set with an Evangelista kill.

SET 2: George Mason - 25, Sacred Heart - 15
The second set was when the Patriots separated themselves from the Pioneers, rendering their offense unable to produce. Sacred Heart hit .000 on 30 attack attempts and committed a combined 12 errors that included two George Mason blocks.

Weltin took control of the set, recording five kills. No one else had more than two.

George Mason fell behind 5-2 early in the set, but after two separate 6-0 Patriot runs later in the period, the Green & Gold eventually found themselves ahead comfortably at 21-13. The final 4-2 run consisted of a Weltin kill, a Pioneer attack and service error and the set's only service ace from either side served by sophomore outside hitter Michael Schofield.


SET 3: George Mason - 25, Sacred Heart - 16
The final set of the afternoon saw the Pioneers outhit the Patriots .182 to .118, but similarly to the second set, errors undid any meaningful momentum for Sacred Heart. The Pioneers committed four attack errors and seven service errors compared to George Mason's six and one, respectively.

George Mason also notched six service aces in the set, the most in any one set this season.

The Patriots went wire-to-wire in the set, never falling behind and only having been tied once at 1-1. When the Pionners' Aleksa Mandic's kill brought the score to 8-6 in George Mason favor, the Patriots went on a back-breaking 7-0 run that consisted of two kills from Elijah Lazor, one from from Evangelista, two Pioneer errors and back-to-back Weltin service aces.

Other Patriot service aces came from Alexander Lillie, Lazor and consecutive aces by Evangelista at 22-13 and 23-13.

COACH'S CORNER
"Another solid performance by our team tonight," said head coach Jay Hosack. "We are picking up little plays that are making all the difference in our ability to push forward and it shows in the results. I am super proud of our team and their hard work to get better."

UP NEXT
George Mason will return home and begin the first of a three-week homestand, starting with a two-game series with Saint Francis. The Patriots' first game against the Red Flash will be Friday, March 27, at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday, March 28, 5 p.m. first serve.