This week's news and notes:
Offensive Player of the Week
Cal Fisher, Gr., OPP, Penn State
Cal delivered a standout performance all over the court in a pair of Penn State sweeps at George Mason. The graduate student opposite tallied 27 kills on .479 hitting with three aces, five digs and six blocks for the No. 3 Nittany Lions, who locked up a third straight EIVA regular-season championship. On March 31 against the Patriots, Fisher posted 14 kills with one error to hit .591, adding an ace, two blocks and three digs. The next day he had 13 kills with two errors to hit .385 while adding two aces, four blocks and two digs. Fisher ranks second in the EIVA and fourth nationally averaging 0.67 aces per set. He also is second in the EIVA in points per set (4.24), third in kills (3.21) and fifth in hitting (.356). Fisher’s second weekly EIVA honor this season is the fifth of his career.
Defensive Player of the Week
Trevor Schultz, Jr., MB, Harvard
Trevor’s play was key in Harvard’s pair of 3-2 wins at NJIT on March 31 and April 1. In the first match, the junior middle blocker had eight kills on .467 hitting with two aces, three digs and six blocks. The following day he had four kills on an error-free .333 hitting with three aces, two digs and four blocks, three of them solo stuffs. His weekend total saw 12 kills with one error to hit .407, five aces, three digs and 10 blocks including four solo denials. Schultz is hitting .413 this season, which ranks second in the EIVA, and his 0.86 blocks per set is seventh in the conference. Schultz captures his second weekly EIVA award for this season and his career.
Around the EIVA
- The EIVA tournament top seed and site are set, but there is still much to be determined heading into the final week of the regular season. Penn State is the regular-season champion, has locked in the top seed and will host the EIVA Championship Tournament at Rec Hall April 19-22. Match pairings are TBA, but match times are tentatively set and appear on the bracket HERE. The bracket page also includes tiebreak criteria to determine tournament seeds. Tickets to all tournament matches are scheduled to go on sale April 12 on the Nittany Lions’ website.
- The top two seeds receive a first-round bye and open the tournament in the semifinals.
- Princeton and Charleston are competing for the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds. The Tigers earn the No. 2 spot by beating NJIT in their one match, or with one Golden Eagle loss in their two matches at Penn State.
- George Mason, Harvard and NJIT are competing for seeds 4-6, although with only one match left to play while the others have two, NJIT can finish no higher than fifth. In head-to-head tiebreakers, Harvard wins (2-0) if tied with NJIT, NJIT wins (2-0) if tied with George Mason. The Crimson and Patriots meet this weekend. If one team sweeps both matches, that team earns the No. 4 seed, the loser is sixth if NJIT wins, or if NJIT loses then the head-to-head tiebreak listed earlier would determine fifth and sixth. If Harvard and George Mason split and NJIT wins, it leaves a three-way tie and the tiebreak would be determined by head-to-head records among the three knotted teams. That would leave the seeds (with head-to-head record among the three) as 4-Harvard (3-1), 5-NJIT (2-2), 6-George Mason (1-3). If the Patriots and Crimson split their two matches and NJIT loses to Princeton, the Highlanders are No. 6, and the next appropriate criteria would be used to determine fourth and fifth.
- In the penultimate weekend of the regular season, with only conference matches played, every each visiting team swept their respective weekend series.
- Princeton has turned its season around. Having a 4-8 record after a loss at Penn State on Feb. 18, the Tigers have won 8 of their last 11 matches.
- The Tigers spoiled Charleston’s hopes of capturing the regular-season EIVA crown with a pair of victories at the Wehrle Innovation Center. The Tigers won at the service line 12-2 in aces, led in kills 98-54, and overcame the Eagles’ 27-16.5 edge in blocks. UC posted 20.5 blocks in Match 2.
- Penn State has won 26 straight regular-season EIVA matches, 31 straight regular-season EIVA sets, and 53 of the last 54 regular-season EIVA sets.
- In addition to the five EIVA tournament matches in Rec Hall, Penn State’s women’s team will play an exhibition match against a team of players from the Athletes Unlimited professional league at 7 p.m. April 21.
- Next week’s schedule: April 17-Players of the Week; April 18-All-EIVA & individual season awards; April 19-Tournament preview notes; April 19-22-Tournament at Penn State.
Top Performers
- Alessandro Negri (So., OH, NJIT) knocked down 37 kills with two aces, three blocks and seven digs vs. Harvard. His 26 kills in Friday’s match was an EIVA season high.
- Ben Harrington (Jr., OH, PRIN) had 30 kills, four aces, five blocks, six digs and an assist in two wins at Charleston. He leads the EIVA and ranks third in the nation in aces per set (.706) and leads the EIVA and is 10th in the nation in points per set (4.49).
- Nyherowo Omene (So., RS, PRIN) had 17 kills, one ace, seven blocks, two digs and two assists.
- Garret Schnitker (Sr., OPP, UCWV) had 21 kills, an ace, six digs and nine blocks including a solo. All nine blocks were posted in Match 2 vs. Princeton.
- Ismael Sneed (Sr., MB, UCWV) had a kill and eight blocks, including a solo, in Match 2.
- Kade McGovern (So., OH, HARV) had 28 kills, an ace, 15 digs and nine blocks (seven in Match 1).
- Brett Wildman (Gr., OH, PSU) had two kills, seven aces, four digs and 3 blocks in Match 1.
- Ryan Merk (So., L, PSU) was 23 for 23 in serve-receive with 22 digs in two matches.
EIVA Standings
EIVA Scores and Results
EIVA Statistics
EIVA in national rankings
EIVA teams among NCAA NC Leaders (Top 10)
(via ncaa.com last updated April 10)
Aces Per Set: 1-T. Penn State & UCLA 2.04; 3. Princeton 2.02
Assists Per Set: 1. Hawaii 12.81
Blocks Per Set: 1. Long Beach State 2.824; 3. Charleston 2.659; 9. Penn State 2.357
Digs Per Set: 1. Benedict 10.51; 7. Charleston 9.57
Hitting Percentage: 1. Hawaii .379; 6. Charleston .335; 7. Penn State .331
Kills Per Set: 1. Hawaii 13.60
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1. Edward Waters .145; 3. Charleston .178; 4. Penn State .182
Team Attacks Per Set: 1 Mount Olive 29.87
EIVA individuals among NCAA NC Leaders (Top 10)
(via ncaa.com last updated April 10)
Aces Per Set: 1. Hilir Henno (UCI) .963; 3. Ben Harrington (PRIN) .706; 4. Cal Fisher (PSU) .672; 9. Brett Wildman (PSU) .493
Assists Per Set: 1. Jakob Thelle (Hawaii) 10.90; 7. Cole Bogner (PSU) 10.19
Attacks Per Set: 1. Ras Jesse Delancy (Benedict) 11.60
Blocks Per Set: 1. Simon Torwie (LBSU) 1.620; 6. Veit Bils (UCWV) 1.078; 9. Will Kimenhour (UCWV) 1.065
Digs Per Set: 1. Victor Scherer (Central St) 3.51
Hitting Percentage: 1. Merrick McHenry (UCLA) .500; 2. Toby Ezeonu (PSU) .486
Kills Per Set: 1. Ras Jesse Delancy (Benedict) 5.68
Points Per Set: 1. Ras Jesse Delancy (Benedict) 6.43; 10. Ben Harrington (PRIN) 4.49
NCAA RPI
1. UCLA
2. Hawaii
3. Penn State
4. Long Beach State
5. Grand Canyon
6. Ohio State
7. BYU
8. Ball State |
MPSF
Big West
EIVA
Big West
MPSF
MIVA
MPSF
MIVA |
9. UC Irvine
10. Loyola Chicago
12. Charleston
13. Princeton
18. George Mason
29. NJIT
33. Harvard
|
Big West
MIVA
EIVA
EIVA
EIVA
EIVA
EIVA
|
EIVA Record vs. Non-Conference Opponents
| AVCA Top 15 (Non-EIVA) |
10-24 |
NEC |
19-5 |
| Big West |
2-7 |
SIAC |
2-0 |
| Conference Carolinas |
10-0 |
Independent |
7-1 |
| MIVA |
8-13 |
NCAA D-III/NAIA |
3-0 |
| MPSF |
6-10 |
|
|
2022 EIVA Weekly Awards AVCA Div. I-II National
OFFENSIVE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jan. 16 Luuk Hoge Bavel, Charleston Owen Rose, Penn State
Jan. 23 John Kerr, Penn State Michal Kowal, Penn State John Kerr, Penn State
Jan. 30 Ben Harrington, Princeton Martin de Chavaria, NJIT
Feb. 6 Cal Fisher, Penn State Lucas Little, George Mason
Feb. 13 Ben Harrington, Princeton Trevor Schultz, Harvard
Feb. 20 Diego Villafane, Charleston Toby Ezeonu, Penn State Diego Villafane, Charleston
Feb. 27 Ben Harrington, Princeton Paul Wyszynski, George Mason
March 6 Luuk Hoge Bavel, Charleston Owen Rose, Penn State
March 13 Liam French, George Mason Toby Ezeonu, Penn State
March 20 Omar Hoyos, George Mason Georgi Zahariev, George Mason Omar Hoyos, George Mason
March 27 Ben Harrington, Princeton Martin de Chavaria, NJIT
April 3 Cole Bogner, Penn State Veit Bils, Charleston
April 10 Cal Fisher, Penn State Trevor Schultz, Harvard
AVCA Div. I-II Coaches Poll
April 10
| Rank |
School (first-place votes adj.) |
Total pts. adj. |
Record |
Prev. |
| 1 |
Hawai'i [16] |
321 |
24-2 |
1 |
| 2 |
UCLA [6] |
312 |
25-2 |
2 |
| 3 |
Penn State |
284 |
22-3 |
3 |
| 4 |
Long Beach State |
271 |
18-3 |
4 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
238 |
16-8 |
5 |
| 6 |
BYU |
213 |
16-6 |
7 |
| 7 |
Grand Canyon |
195 |
21-6 |
6 |
| 8 |
Stanford |
177 |
13-10 |
9 |
| 9 |
Pepperdine |
153 |
16-11 |
8 |
| 10 |
Ball State |
118 |
18-8 |
11 |
| 11 |
Ohio State |
103 |
19-9 |
13 |
| 12 |
Loyola-Chicago |
85 |
21-6 |
10 |
| 13 |
Southern California |
74 |
8-15 |
12 |
| 14 |
CSUN |
34 |
12-13 |
15 |
| 15 |
Charleston |
21 |
22-4 |
14 |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Princeton 11; Concordia Irvine 5; Daemen 4; Lewis 4
4 teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 17 combined points
Dropped Out: None
Off The Block Polls
Div. I-II Media Poll
April 11
| Rk |
Team |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prv. |
Trend |
| 1 |
UCLA |
25-2 |
105 (6) |
1 |
— |
| 2 |
Hawai’i |
24-2 |
102 (5) |
2 |
— |
| 3 |
Penn State |
22-3 |
88 |
3 |
— |
| 4 |
Long Beach St |
18-3 |
79 |
4 |
— |
| 5 |
BYU |
14-6 |
61 |
7 |
+2 |
| 6 |
UC Irvine |
16-8 |
54 |
6 |
— |
| 7 |
Grand Canyon |
21-6 |
47 |
5 |
-2 |
| 8 |
Ball State |
18-8 |
21 |
RV |
+3 |
| 9 |
Stanford |
13-10 |
19 |
RV |
+2 |
| 10 |
Ohio State |
19-9 |
17 |
RV |
+1 |
Others receiving votes: Loyola 8, Pepperdine 6, Charleston 2
Dropped out of rankings: Loyola, Pepperdine, Charleston
Division II Coaches Poll
April 5
| Rk |
Team |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prv. |
Trend |
| 1 |
Charleston |
22-2 |
110 (11) |
1 |
— |
| 2 |
Concordia |
7-15 |
91 |
2 |
— |
| 3 |
Lewis |
14-12 |
87 |
3 |
— |
| 4 |
Lincoln Mem |
18-4 |
80 |
4 |
— |
| 5 |
Daemen |
15-4 |
71 |
5 |
— |
| T-6 |
McKendree |
6-13 |
49 |
6 |
— |
| T-6 |
N Greenville |
16-7 |
49 |
7 |
+1 |
| 8 |
Limestone |
14-10 |
22 |
9 |
+1 |
| 9 |
Erskine |
13-12 |
19 |
8 |
-1 |
| 10 |
King |
13-14 |
14 |
10 |
— |
Others receiving votes: Belmont Abbey, Tusculum, Quincy, Edward Waters
Dropped out of rankings: N/A