FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's volleyball team opened the month of April with a 3-0 Friday evening sweep against Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) opponent Harvard at the Recreation Athletic Complex (RAC). With Friday's win, the Patriots extended their home win streak to nine games and have now won 11 of their last 12 games.

PATRIOT POINTS

• The Patriots had a firm edge over the Crimson in all statistical categories, including  hitting percentage (.265 to .044), points (51.0 to 34.5), kills (35 to 23), service aces (six to four), blocks (10 to seven), assists (29 to 22) and digs (32 to 28).
• Sophomore middle blocker Alexander Lillie had a game-high 12 kills. Junior outside hitter Robert Evangelista had the second-most on the team with nine, followed by sophomore pin hitter Aidan Weltin.
• Senior setter Georgi Zahariev, who had a game-high 25 assists, also recorded a season-high three service aces for himself. Junior opposite hitter Jackson Herbert, who also contributed two aces, had a team-high seven digs.
• Senior middle blocker Elijah Lazor had a team-high four blocks, including a solo block in the third set.

Picking up where they left off last month, George Mason (17-7, 5-2 EIVA) showed no signs of slowing down, beating Harvard (6-14, 3-6 EIVA) in straight sets. The Patriots have now won seven games in a row and in that streak have won four straight EIVA matches, dating back to their 3-1 win over No. 19 NJIT on Feb. 27.

SET 1: George Mason - 25, Harvard - 15
Though the first set saw both teams struggle offensively at the start, the Patriots held the Crimson to a -.088 hitting percentage and eight attacking errors. George Mason soon gained their momentum and poured in three service aces, two double blocks and an impressive three solo blocks - one from Lillie, Weltin and Herbert each.

The Crimson jumped out to an early 3-1 lead thanks to back-to-back double blocks by middle blockers Brian Thomas and Owen Woolbert, who had a game-high six blocks. The Patriots then went on a 10-2 run to take the lead and never gave it back to Harvard. That run included a Lillie solo block at 3-3, a Lillie/Evangelista double block at 5-3, a Zahariev service ace at 7-4 and another double block by Lillie and Weltin at 8-4.

Later in the set, Harvard scored a point after a rather lengthy rally to get to 12-8. Coach Hosack challenged the ruling on the floor, as he believed the Patriots scored the point earlier on during a Crimson dig attempt. After review, the only challenge of the game was successful for the Green & Gold, overturning the call and flipping the score to 13-7 George Mason's favor.

After the successful challenge, the Patriots kept the pressure, finishing the 22-minute long period with a 12-8 run. Lillie clinched the set with his set-leading fourth kill, while Herbert and Zahariev knocked in one ace each.

SET 2: George Mason - 25, Harvard - 23
The second set was the evening's closest between the two teams, with the Patriots hitting .290 with 14 kills and the Crimson hitting .240 and nine. The Patriots committed more errors in total than the Crimson, 10 to six, which kept the door open for Harvard throughout the match, as there were 10 ties and six lead changes.

Though Harvard put up their best fight of the game in the second set, George Mason was able to keep them from stealing the set with another three-ace period; two were from Weltin and Jackson recorded the third.

The Patriots had their largest lead of the set late at 19-15, but the Crimson went on a 7-4 run to cut the George Mason lead to just one at 23-22, prompting Coach Hosack to call his first timeout of the evening.

The Patriots were able to regroup and neutralize the Crimson threat with an Evangelista kill at 24-22, his set-leading fifth, and a set-clinching kill from Lillie.

SET 3: George Mason - 23, Harvard - 17
The final set of the evening was George Mason's strongest, as they paced Harvard with a .478 hitting percentage to their .032. The Patriots minimized their mistakes as well, only having two attack errors and three service errors to Harvard's eight and two, respectively.

Harvard's Owen Woolbert had the set-high five kills, but no one else on his team had more than two. The Patriots, on the other hand, had four kills from Evangelista and Lillie, three from Weltin and single kills by Zahariev and Herbert.

George Mason's defense stifled Harvard for a third consecutive set, recording two double blocks and two more solo blocks.

Harvard had a 12-8 lead before the Patriots regained their composure and went on a 10-3 run to take control of both the lead and the set. In that run, the momentum shifted to the Patriots' side after back-to-back Lazor blocks (one solo and double block with Evangelista) and sustained kills coming from Weltin and Evangelista.

After Evangelista pushed the lead to 16-14 with a kill, Harvard called their first timeout of the set. They would then use their second and final timeout at 21-16 following a Weltin kill.

The Patriots put away the Crimson with a double block by Lazor and Weltin at 24-17 and a final ball handling error by Woolbert at 25-17.


COACH'S CORNER
"We are doing the little things which give us opportunities to produce, which I like," said head coach Jay Hosack. "We are just trying to keep getting better at everything for conference tournament time."

UP NEXT
George Mason will play their second game of the series with the Crimson tomorrow, April 4, at 2 p.m. Continuing the Alumni Weekend festivities, former George Mason players will be recognized on the court in between sets 2 and 3. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be followed on Live Stats.