Art Pittman/George Mason Univ.

Patriots Head to No. 15 Penn State in Pivotal Final Regular Season Weekend for Top Spot

Men's Volleyball 4/16/2026 2:45:00 PM

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL at No. 15 Penn State
WHEN: Friday, April 17 (6 p.m.) and Saturday, April 18 (3 p.m.)
WHERE: Recreaction Building (Rec Hall) | University Park, Pa.
RECORDS: George Mason (20-7, 8-2 EIVA); Penn State (18-7, 10-0 EIVA)
ALL-TIME SERIES: Penn State leads the series 122-19; Penn State swept the series last season in Fairfax, Va. (April 11 and April 12)
LIVE STATS APRIL 17: Click Here
WATCH (BigTen+) APRIL 17: Click Here
LIVE STATS APRIL 18: Click Here
WATCH (BigTen+) APRIL 18: Click Here

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The George Mason men's volleyball team will finish their regular season this weekend with a two-game series in Rec Hall at No. 15 Penn State. Friday and Saturday's games will be pivotal, as it will determine the final seeding of next week's Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association's (EIVA) postseason conference tournament.

WHAT'S AT STAKE (per the EIVA)

The regular season has reached its final week and almost nothing has been decided. What is known is the EIVA Championship Tournament will be played in either University Park, Pa., or Fairfax, Va., and five of the six participants are known. Penn State, George Mason, NJIT, Charleston and Sacred Heart have all clinched spots in the event, which will be played April 22-25.
The Nittany Lions and Patriots meet in Rec Hall on April 17-18, and the Lions need only to win one match to lock up first place and tournament hosting duties. If GMU wins both days, the tournament will be played in the RAC.
GMU and NJIT face the possibility of being tied. The Highlanders hold the tiebreaker edge (4-3 head-to-head sets record) and would finish second, with a first-round tournament bye, and the Patriots would be third

EIVA STANDINGS

No. 15 Penn State: 18-7 (10-0)
George Mason: 20-7 (8-2)
No. 20 NJIT: 16-8 (7-3)
Charleston: 13-14 (4-8)
Sacred Heart: 10-13 (3-7)
Harvard: 6-15 (3-7)
Princeton: 5-14 (1-9)

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, George Mason (20-7, 8-2 EIVA) completed a 15-2 regular home season record by beating Princeton on Friday and Saturday, winning their fifth-consecutive weekend sweep. The Patriots extended their current win streak to 10 games (which includes seven straight EIVA wins), their home win streak to 12 games and have now won 14 of their last 15 games.

Patriot streaks and milestones reached after this past weekend:

The Patriots have reached 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2008. It is now the fourth time since 2000 that the program has reached that milestone (2001, 2006, 2008).
George Mason finished the regular season home schedule with a 15-2 record, tying their 2008 season for most home wins in a single season.
George Mason's 12-game home winning streak is currently the third-longest in program history.
George Mason has won 10 games in a row, their first time since the 2024 season and currently the fifth-longest streak in program history.
The Patriots' current seven-game conference winning streak is currently tied for the fourth-longest in program history (tied with 2008, 2006, 2002 and 1995-96).

AWARDS
George Mason picked up their sixth overall EIVA weekly award of the season, with Georgi Zahariev being named the conference's Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Zahariev had himself a career weekend against Princeton, as George Mason went a clean 2-0 for the fifth consecutive weekend and finished with a record-tying 15-2 regular home season record (tied with 2008) as well as a home winning streak of 12, which is currently the third-longest in program history.

The Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, native played in all nine sets, collecting team-highs in assists (96) and hitting percentage (.467) while having the second-most service aces (4).

In Friday's win, Zahariev's 37 assists pushed him over the 2,000 career assists mark. He followed up that milestone in the following game on his Senior Night by posting a career-high 59 assists, breaking his previous record of 53, set twice on Feb. 27 of this season and April 19, 2023.

To round out the weekend, Zahariev had 11 digs, nine kills, three block assists and a total of 14.5 points (1.61/set).

Zahariev leads the EIVA with 10.03 assists per set, ranking 11^th nationally entering the weekend, and the Patriots lead the EIVA hitting .279

As a team, this is the sixth weekly award winner of the season, tying last season's mark.

2026 Weekly Awards List

SCOUTING No. 15 PENN STATE
No. 15 Penn State (18-7, 10-0 EIVA) was picked to finish atop the standings for the sixth straight year in the 2026 EIVA Preseason Coaches Poll. It will mark as a special weekend for the Nittany Lion volleyball community, as long time head coach Mark Pavlik will be recognized and celebrated heading into his final regular season weekend after having served as Penn State's head coach for over 30 years.

The Nittany Lions finished their non-conference schedule with a record of 8-7, which included notable wins over No. 9 Lewis on Jan. 17 and No. 15 Ohio State on March 25. All of their losses have come from ranked opponents (Jan. 23-24 - No. 15 McKendree; Jan. 30-31 - No. 3 Hawai'i; March 7 - No. 2 Long Beach State; March 11 - No. 6 Pepperdine; March 14 - No. 5 USC

Currently first in the EIVA standings, Penn State has a clean 10-0 record over conference opponents, having a 30-7 sets win-loss record. In their latest weekend against Sacred Heart, the Nittany Lions won both games in five sets at Fairfield, Connecticut.

Outside hitter Sean Harvey is the team's leader in kills with 301. The redshirt sophomore from Bartlett, Illinois, who has been named an EIVA weekly award nominee three times this season had a career-high 22 kills in their win over Princeton on Feb. 13. Over the past weekend, he put up back-to-back 19-kill games against the Pioneers.

Aside from Harvey, four other Nittany Lions currently have over 100 kills on the season: Matthew Luoma (159), Tristan Hassell (128), Gaige Gabriel (116) and Owen Rose (104).

Junior setter Michael Schwob leads the team in assists with 469. Redshirt senior libero Ryan Merk has the most digs with 186.

Defense and service aces are where Penn State shines. They lead the EIVA in blocks (252.0) and aces (131). Those two categories are led by redshirt senior middle blocker Owen Rose, who won this week's EIVA Defensive Player of the Week award alongside Zahariev's Offensive nod. The Long Island, New York, native leads the team in service aces (29) and the conference in blocks (129).

STAT LEADERS
PATRIOTS (27 games played) | NITTANY LIONS (25 games played)

KILLS - Aidan Weltin (327) | Sean Harvey (301)
DIGS - Aidan Weltin (141) | Ryan Merk (186)
ASSISTS - Georgi Zahariev (873) | Michael Schwob (469)
BLOCKS - Alexander Lillie (86.0) | Owen Rose (129.0)
ACES - Aidan Weltin (33) | Owen Rose (29)

HISTORY WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
Dating back to the Patriots' inaugural season in 1975, the Patriots and Nittany Lions have faced off over 140 times. Penn State has strong command of the all-time series, having won 122 games, and they have currently won the last 11 meetings.

Last season, George Mason lost both regular season games in Fairfax (April 11 and April 12), with each match going the full five sets.

The last time George Mason beat Penn State was in Fairfax on April 4, 2021, in a game that not only went the distance, 3-2, but was also assistant coach Sam Greenslade's Senior Night. Coach Greenslade finished the game with 12 kills and two service aces.

UP NEXT
George Mason will prepare for the EIVA Tournament next week, which will be played April 22-25. Depending on how this weekend plays out, either the Patriots or the Nittany Lions will host the tournament. Penn State is guaranteed a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, meaning they will have a first-round bye into the semifinals. George Mason, on the other hand, has a chance for Nos. 1, 2 or 3, meaning they could either have a first-round bye into Thursday, April 23, or, if they fall to No. 3, have to play a first-round game on Wednesday, April 22.

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