UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – The No. 10 Penn State men's volleyball team improved to 10-2 overall for the 2021 season and maintained its position atop the EIVA standings with a clean 3-0 sweep of No. 12 George Mason Saturday evening at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight matches against the Patriots (7-3, 4-2) dating back to the 2019 EIVA Tournament semifinals (4/18/19, 3-2).
Penn State had a balanced and efficient overall team performance hitting .325 and siding out at a 79.3 percent rate for the match.
"I think you've witnessed one of the cleanest matches we've played in Rec Hall in a long time," said head coach Mark Pavlik. "When you look at the stat sheet and see that we had just seven unforced hitting errors in three games…we gave very few points to George Mason tonight."
Another strong effort from the pin hitters Brett Wildman and Cal Fisher sparked most of Penn State's offense. They each had 11 kills with Wildman hitting .526 (11-1-19) and Fisher converting at .321 (11-2-28).
Middle blocker Canyon Tuman had one of his best offensive nights of the season and was named the Mike Anderson Man of the Match with seven kills hitting an errorless .778 and added two service aces and a pair of blocks.
Penn State produced its first extended margin of the evening at 12-9 in set one after a kill from Wildman and a block by Cole Bogner and Tuman. The Nittany Lions later extended that lead with a 7-1 run behind the serves of Michal Kowal and Fisher. Kowal had an ace and Fisher put Mason's offense out of system to give the Nittany Lions a 23-16 lead, allowing them to easily close the set at 25-19 to take the 1-0 lead.
In game two, a Bogner kill followed by a Tuman ace put the Nittany Lions ahead 12-10 and another Penn State spurt soon followed. Fisher ripped three kills and teamed up for one blocks with Sam Marsh for four points in a row to lead by five at 17-12.
Mason never pulled the margin closer than three in the frame with another Fisher kill ending the set 25-21 in favor of the Nittany Lions.
Penn State started hot in the third game after a pair of Michael Valenzi points and a Fisher service ace doubled up Mason's point output at 12-6 in favor of Penn State. The Patriots did manage to battle back as close as four points at19-15, but Penn State closed the match from that point on with a 6-1 run which included kill from Andrew Watts off the bench and another ace by Fisher. Penn State won the game 25-16 to sweep the match 3-0.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- In addition to his solid offensive night, Wildman had a match-high seven digs, closely followed by Fisher's six.
- Penn State once again won the serving battle with six aces to Mason's two. Penn State received at a .953 rate as a team (41-43). Wildman (14-14) and Valenzi (11-11) had errorless receiving nights.
NEXT UP
Penn State hosts Charleston for a pair of matches next weekend, March 5-6.