The Patriots celebrate their 25-14 win to close out the weekend series against Harvard. The kill came from outside hitter senior Hayden Karpinski (#18). (Christian Segovia / Fourth Estate)
Mason carries a two-month win streak at home into the season’s final stretch
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, ALUMNI CONTRIBUTOR AND PETER MAHLER, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
George Mason men’s volleyball (20-7, 8-2 in-conference) has completely transformed their season. The Patriots, now ranked second in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association behind Penn State, have won 14 of their last 15 matches, including an undefeated home record since Jan. 31.
The season didn’t begin so positively. In a tight season opener against Catawba, Mason opened the game-deciding fifth set up 7-1. After Mason’s best player, senior outside hitter Liam French, tore his ACL, Head Coach Jay Hosack said that it shook his players.
“It’s the first match of the year,” Hosack said. “Guys have some jitters, are not in rhythm and our best player went down with an injury in the middle of the fifth game. I’m feeling we’re gonna win it. It’s not gonna be an issue. And my guys got flustered. You know, they’re concerned about their teammate.”
The Patriots went on to lose the set in a 15-12 heartbreaker, losing the match in five sets.
Making matters worse, Mason then had to face Ohio State and Long Beach State — both top 20 teams in the country — and was swept in both matches. An 0-3 start was not what Hosack envisioned, but he used adversity as a tool for the future.
“I like to schedule hard in the beginning, because I like to see: where are our deficiencies? What do we need to work on? What are we good at? What are we not good at? And how do we maximize and minimize depending on what [we’re] looking at?” he said.
French’s injury left Mason without a starting outside hitter, opening the door for sophomore Aidan Weltin to take his spot. Although he played sparingly as a freshman, Weltin has performed well above expectations. He leads the Patriots in kills (327), aces (33), digs (141) and has impressed Hosack.
“He had never played that position before, so for a guy to be leading the conference in the national stats for attempts [and kills] per match — in his first year of actually playing the position — I’ll take it,” he said.
Senior setter Georgi Zahariev, who leads the team in assists with 873, has been a key lob artist for Weltin’s attacks.
“This is his fourth year — his first year starting and running the show,” Hosack said.
With limited starting experience, Zahariev has had a stellar career. He earned AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Player of the Week and EIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors after a dominant two-match stretch against New Jersey Institute of Technology — ranked #19 nationally at the time — and Dominican University New York. He recorded 91 assists, 13 per set, while hitting over 57% of his attacks.
Weltin, Zahariev, sophomore middle blocker Alexander Lillie and junior opposite hitter Jackson Herbert have each been recognized by the EIVA as Players of the Week throughout the season, a testament to the talent that Mason has at their disposal.
Hosack believes his liberos, sophomore Stef Kins and junior Robby Nardoni, don’t get enough credit for the team’s success.
“Robby is very vocal, very quick on his feet [and] knows how to command presence when he’s on the court [directing] traffic,” Hosack said. “Stef Kins is really low key, mellow, confident, focused and is very good at [setting]. That’s what you need your libero on the court to be able to do, because they’re going to see a fair amount of balls.”
Anchoring the front line, 6-foot-8-inch sophomore Alexander Lillie is fifth in the conference with 86 blocks. With all of these productive players, many of them underclassmen or first-time starters, Mason has positioned themselves as a genuine threat in their conference.
The Patriots lead the EIVA in points, averaging 16.08 per set. They’re also first in assists with 11.56 per set, first in kills with 12.71 per set and first in hitting percentage at .279.
On the defensive side, the Patriots are sixth in blocks with 2.07 per set and first in digs of 9.34 per set. Not only is Mason effective on the attack, but they’ve become increasingly hard to score on, too. They currently allow the second-lowest hitting percentage at 2.33.
Since the rough start, Mason has found their footing with five of their last eight wins ending in sweeps. Hosack points to timing as a stabilizing force for the team’s chemistry.
“It’s just a matter of going out and executing when the lights are on; I think [it] takes time to build that kind of confidence and trust,” he said.
After a double-sweep series against Princeton, two wins against Penn State in the coming week would give Mason the chance to cap off their season with a potential top-seed in the EIVA. It would also guarantee that the tournament takes place at the Recreation Athletic Complex, where they’ve found much success.
