PRINCETON, N.J. – The Penn State men's volleyball team put together one of its most impressive performances of the season Thursday evening to take down George Mason in five sets 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-9) and advance to the EIVA Championship game.
With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 15-14 on the season and downed the Patriots (17-9) for the first time in three tries this year.
Penn State will face Princeton in the title match after the Tigers took down Saint Francis in straight sets in the second semifinal.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions set the tone early on with a quick three-point lead at 7-4 thanks to a Jason Donorovich kill. The Nittany Lions had a furious attack in the first set and extended their lead to has high as 15-8. George Mason brought it back to a three-point game at 20-17, but Penn State continued to be aggressive offensively and closed the set 25-22.
Penn State had one of its best offensive sets of the season in the first set with a .556 hitting percentage and 18 kills on just 27 attacks.
Another quick start by the Nittany Lions in the second set gave them an 8-5 edge early, but the Patriots closed the gap much quicker with four of the next five to tie the score. The set was locked within a point or two most of the frame after that.
George Mason would take the lead in the set at 18-17 despite four aces in the set from the Nittany Lions. The Patriots edged Penn State by two from then on out, taking the set 25-23.
The third stanza was all Nittany Lions early on as Penn State sped out to a 6-1 lead on a Donorovich service ace. With Penn State leading 11-4, Cole Bogner made a sliding save in front of the Penn State bench to keep the play alive and the Nittany Lions ended taking the point on a GMU error.
George Mason pulled within five at 15-10, but Penn State didn't let the Patriots get any closer by scoring the next three in a row. Penn State scored five of the last seven points in the frame to close the set.
The Patriots flipped the script in the fourth set by taking the lead in the opening rallies. A kill by Hayden Wagner gave Mason an 8-5 advantage which quickly built into a 15-9 point later after a five-point Patriot run.
Penn State held off four set points before George Mason finally closed out the set to force a fifth and deciding game.
The Nittany Lions had only two five-set matches under their belt entering tonight's game that both ended in losses, but they didn't let that scare them in this match. A pair of three-point spurts gave Penn State a 7-3 advantage in the third.
Brett Wildman powered the Nittany Lions with five kills in the final set and closed the match with his 22nd kill. Penn State hit .533 (10-2-15) in the fifth and while also recording a pair of aces, a block, and held George Mason to a .143 clip in the frame.
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
- "We played one of the most disciplined matches of the season. When you play a team three times, we know that you're going to good data on them, they got good data on us, I thought we made enough plays defensively, and we finished plays early.
- "I thought our transition confidence just grew as the game wore on. And then on top of that I thought our serving pressure was pretty good."
- "We kept Mason under some heavy service pressure the entire game, and I thought our passers really rose to the challenge to fight off some great serves that they were putting on us too as the match wore on."
Brett Wildman
- When asked about the his ability to execute tonight: "I think it's a mindset thing. You kind of know that you're going to put this ball away, it doesn't really matter who's on the other side. Pav's been telling me to trust my arm all year, and I think I trusted my arm tonight."
GAME NOTES
- Brett Wildman had a stellar match when he set a new career best with 22 kills. He was also extremely efficient with a .538 hitting percentage on a career-high 36 attacks. He also posted three service aces and seven digs, both of which either tied or set a single-game best for the true freshman.
- Cole Bogner also posted a new single-game high with 57 assists, the most by a Penn State setter this season. He was also solid defensively with eight digs and even tacked on three kills.
- Henrik Falck Lauten was a presence all over the court with 13 kills (.222 hitting percentage) nine digs, a pair of blocks, and a service ace.
- In just his fifth start at libero, Cal Fisher settled in to a very solid evening with six digs and a .957 serve reception percentage (44 of 46).
- Matthew McLaren had nine kills and three service aces and Canyon Tuman also set a new single-game high with nine kills while hitting .615 (9-1-13).
- Jason Donorovich was a force at the net all night long and completed the night with eight kills, a .513 hitting percentage (8-1-13), three solo blocks and five total blocks.
- The Nittany Lions were excellent in serve and pass are now 11-1 this season when posting more service aces then their opponent. They had nine to GMU's five tonight. In addition, Penn State received at a .938 clip (76 for 81).
- The Nittany Lions hit .407 for the match (65-19-113) and improve to 4-0 when hitting .400 or better this season.
- Penn State remains unbeaten in the EIVA Tournament against George Mason in the rally scoring era at 9-0 after the win.
- This will be the 34th EIVA Championship game for the Nittany Lions since the league turned to a single-elimination format in 1983. Penn State is 30-4 in those matches and have won 25 consecutive title matches. Since turning to varsity status in 1977, Penn State has won 31 total conference titles.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will face host Princeton in the title game Saturday evening, April 20, at 7 p.m. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.