Match Stats
- No. 13 Penn State 3, George Mason 1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 28-26)
- Penn State moves to 19-10, 11-3 EIVA; George Mason falls to 13-14, 6-8 EIVA
- University Park, Pennsylvania
- Attendance: 803
- Box Score
No. 13 Penn State earned the outright EIVA title with a 3-1 win over George Mason on Saturday. The Nittany Lions won three straight after dropping the first set in the 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 28-26 victory.
Penn State outhit the Patriots .342 to .261, but George Mason won the battle at the net (10-6) and at the service line (6-2).
A trio of Nittany Lions posted double-digit kills, led by redshirt freshman opposite Calvin Mende’s 24 on a .543 hitting effort. Redshirt junior outside hitter Aidan Albrecht added 16, while senior outside Chris Nugent chipped in 10. Redshirt sophomore libero Royce Clemens managed 13 digs, while Nugent added seven. Redshirt senior middle Matt Callaway registered six kills and a team-best three blocks.
Redshirt senior opposite Jack Wilson managed 21 kills, while hitting at a team-best .375 clip and adding four aces to lead George Mason in his final regular season match. Senior outside Radoslav Popov followed with 11 kills. Redshirt sophomore middle Langston Payne and sophomore outside Kyle Barnes added five kills apiece. Payne also put up a team-best five blocks. Senior libero Johnny Gomez pulled up a team-leading nine digs.
George Mason took a 4-1 lead to start Set 1, but Penn State caught up to tie it at 7-all. A kill and a block by Payne put the Patriots up 13-10. The teams tied five times, last at 18-18, before George Mason scored four straight, including two aces and a kill by Wilson to jump ahead 22-18. Another Wilson putaway put the Patriots on the hill at 24-20 and a Popov kill ended the set.
Four different players tallied kills as George Mason surged ahead 10-7 in Set 2. A trio of PSU putaways and two Patriot miscues knotted it up at 12. Down 15-13, Penn State got an ace from Jalen Penrose and two more errors vaulted the Nittany Lions into the lead at 17-16. A Nugent kill upped the PSU lead to 20-17. George Mason tied it at 20 and 21, but Penn State ended the stanza on a 4-0 run, including a kill and a block by Mende.
After the break, George Mason again took an early lead, using four Penn State miscues to take a 11-9 lead. Mende downed three kills and a block to turn the tables with a 6-1 run, giving the Nittany Lions a 15-12 advantage. A kill and a block by Nugent pushed the PSU lead to four at 19-15. The Patriots were within one at 19-18, but Penn State capped the set with another 6-1 run, including a trio of George Mason errors.
Neither team gained more than a two-point advantage as the teams traded points in Set 4, leading to an 18-all score. Two kills apiece by Albrecht and Mende gave Penn State the 22-20 lead. Another Albrecht putaway made it 24-22, but a Wilson kill and a bad set knotted the score once again. George Mason staved off two more PSU match-point chances, before a service error and Mende putaway wrapped up the match.
Watch the match here.
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