UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The George Mason men's volleyball team's 2026 season came to an end Wednesday evening at Penn State's Rec Hall, as the third-seeded Patriots fell to the sixth-seeded Princeton Tigers, 3-1, in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Tournament Quarterfinal.

PATRIOT POINTS

• Other than aces, where both the Patriots and Tigers had two each, Princeton had the edge in points (53.5 to 70.5), kills (43 to 51), blocks (eight to 17), assists (43 to 49) and digs (28 to 41).
• Sophomore middle blocker Alexander Lillie led the team in kills with 12, followed by sophomore pin hitter Aidan Weltin with 10 and junior outside hitter Robert Evangelista with seven.
• Senior middle blocker Elijah Lazor and junior pin hitter Sebastian Sanchez had one service ace each.
• Senior setter Georgi Zahariev had a team-high 36 assists. Junior setter Gabe Metcalf and Sophomore libero Stef Kins had three each.
• Junior opposite hitter Jackson Herbert had a game-high nine digs (tied with Princeton's Owen Mellon), followed by Weltin with five and Evangelista with four. Redshirt junior Robby Nardoni also recorded two digs.

George Mason (20-10, 8-4 EIVA) had control of the match in the first set, but the remaining three sets of the evening belonged to Princeton (8-14, 3-9 EIVA) in a tense five-set match on Saturday afternoon at Rec Hall, with scores of 25-20, 13-25, 25-22, 15-25, 13-15. The Patriots achieved a .565 hitting percentage in the opening set, but the Nittany Lions ultimately secured the victory. With George Mason's Saturday loss, paired with NJIT's win over Sacred Heart, the Patriots secure the third seed in next week's EIVA Tournament.

SET 1: George Mason - 25, Princeton - 23
In George Mason's only win of the evening, there were 14 ties and five lead changes, the most among any set of the match. Weltin led all kills, scoring seven of the Patriots' 15. Princeton's Tristan Whitfield had the most kills on the Tiger squad with four. The Patriots recorded their best hitting percentage of the game in the first set as well, hitting .323 to Princeton's .200.

The score was tight throughout the set, with each team trading points and leapfrogging each other until 14-14. The Patriots took the lead the following point going into the first media timeout thanks to a Herbert kill. After the timeout, the Patriots scored two more points by way of Tiger attacking errors. The three point lead was the largest the Patriots had on the evening.

The Patriots kept the Tigers at bay until 21-18. Princeton, however, quickly tied it up at 21-all due to a kill and service ace by Whitfield and a Patriot attacking error. Weltin provided the next two kills for the Patriots to get the lead back up to two points. The Patriots and Tigers then traded the final four points of the set, culminating in a Patriot set-clinching Sebastian Daste service error.

SET 2: George Mason - 21, Princeton - 25
Princeton began to find their rhythm in the game, starting with the second set. Though hitting was down on both teams, the Tigers recorded 15 kills on .150 hitting compared to George Mason's nine on .118. Lillie and Evangelista provided the offensive power for the Patriots, supplying three kills each, but Princeton's Owen Mellon and Andrew Werner had four each, followed by Ryan Vena's three kills.

George Mason opened the scoring with a Lazor kill, but Princeton scored the next four points from kills by Mellon, Werner, Whitfield and Vena. George Mason's Herbert stopped the bleeding by punching in a kill, followed by a Princeton attacking error by Werner. The Tigers, however, would not relinquish the lead.

The game's only challenge came after the Patriots scored a point off a Vena attacking error, cutting into the Tiger lead and making it 10-7. The Tiger bench challenged the call, claiming that there was a Patriot net violation. Upon review, the officials reversed the call, giving the kill to Vena instead and extending the Tiger lead to 11-6. Princeton would score the next point by way of another Vena kill, pushing their lead to six, the largest of the set.

The Patriots would get some points back, but the Tigers regained their six-point lead again at 16-10. The Patriots then went on a 10-6 run to get within 22-20. That would be the closest they could get, unfortunately, as Princeton scored three of the set's final four points.

SET 3: George Mason - 17, Princeton - 25
The Princeton offense began firing on all cylinders, hitting a game-high .524 and added 14 more kills. George Mason kept up with 12 kills but only hit .172. Defense played the difference, as Princeton recorded a game-high seven blocks, while the Patriots put up three.

There were four ties and only one lead change in the third set. The Patriots started off with an emphatic double block by Lillie and Evangelista. The score was quickly leveled due to a Patriot server error.

Errors also played a part in the third set; Princeton limited the errors to just three, while the Patriots committed seven.

The two sides would trade points until 3-3. The Tigers took the one and only lead change off a Mellon kill. After a few more kills, blocks and errors, the Patriots found themselves playing catch up for the rest of the set.

Down 18-12, junior setter Gabe Metcalf came in to relieve Zahariev, while junior pin hitter Sebastian Sanchez came in to replace Weltin. After a subsequent Patriot service error, sophomore outside hitter Jack Lopez came in as Herbert's substitution.

The Tigers kept the pressure, securing a decisive 25-17 set which was led by Mellon's six kills. George Mason's best attacker was Lillie with five.

SET 4: George Mason - 16, Princeton - 25
In the final set of the season, the Patriots were unable to find their footing throughout, hitting -.040 on seven kills and a team-high eight errors. Princeton held steady with 12 kills, a .348 hitting percentage and five more blocks.

Though there were three ties early on in the period, the Tigers held a wire-to-wire victory, never losing the lead. Princeton finished the game with a Werner kill and will proceed to play second-seeded NJIT on Thursday.

UP NEXT
With the 2026 season concluded, the Patriots look ahead to next season and will build upon their successful 20-win campaign.