This week's news and notes:
The EIVA Offensive Player of the Week is Princeton's Nyherowo Omene and the Defensive Player of the Week is Sacred Heart's Dylan McClung.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nyherwo Omene, Sr., PIN, Princeton
Nyherowo delivered yet another prolific performance in the Tigers’ final non-conference match of the season. The senior pin hitter knocked down 18 kills while hitting .556 and added five aces, four digs and a block during a 3-1 win against Daemen on March 22. Omene has posted double digits in kills in his last 10 matches and in 13 of his 15 matches this season. It also marked his fifth contest hitting at least .500 and his ninth with at least 15 kills, including his last three outings. Omene leads the EIVA in points per set (5.08) and kills per set (4.22), ranks second in aces per set (0.42) and third in hitting (.356). Nationally, he ranks eighth in kills per set and fifth in points per set. This is Omene’s third EIVA weekly award of 2025 and fourth of his career.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Dylan McClung, Sr., OH, Sacred Heart
In his first two matches of the season, Dylan was instrumental in a pair of Pioneer victories. The senior outside hitter played two sets in a 3-1 win at Merrimack on March 21, posting eight kills on .357 hitting with a career-high three aces, an assist, three digs and a pair of blocks. Playing all five sets of a 3-2 win the next day against St. Thomas Aquinas, he had career highs of 17 kills and 12 digs and matched his career best with three more aces. He also had two assists and two blocks, and his 20 total points in the match also was a career high. For the week he tallied 25 kills on .288 hitting with six aces, three assists, 15 digs and four blocks. This is McClung’s first career EIVA weekly honor.
AROUND THE EIVA
- EIVA teams completed nearly all of their non-conference schedules last week and return to conference play this coming week. Aside from a handful of contests, schedules are filled with EIVA opponents until the end of the regular season.
- The EIVA Championship tournament will be held April 23-26. The top six teams qualify for the event, hosted by the regular-season champion.
- NJIT completed its short trip to the West Coast, which saw a pair of losses to No. 1 Long Beach State.
- George Mason also faced a ranked opponent, falling at home to No. 5 UC Irvine.
- Sacred Heart had a sizzling serve in its 3-2 win vs. St. Thomas Aquinas. The Pioneers delivered 16 aces while the Spartans served up eight.
- In two wins vs. Wittenburg and Thomas More, Charleston hit .377 under the direction of setters Paul Stommel and Luke Atkinson.
- Harvard’s home match vs. Daemen, originally slated for March 7 before its postponement, will be played March 30. It gives the Crimson a three-match weekend, as they host George Mason on March 28 and 29.
- With four weeks remaining in the regular season, George Mason and Princeton share the EIVA lead, but the race is tight with 5 teams within 1.5 games of the top spot.
- In this week’s AVCA rankings, Princeton held at No. 19 and George Mason moved back onto the list at No. 20. Penn State and Harvard were among those also receiving votes. Despite not playing last week, the Nittany Lions dropped out of the rankings. It marked the first time they were not ranked this season, and the first time they were unranked since the final poll of 2019, ending a run of 91 straight weeks appearing in the coaches’ poll.
- Charleston remains No. 6 in Off the Block’s Division II coaches’ poll.
- The NCAA updated its RPI rankings, with Long Beach State at the top and Princeton the highest EIVA team at No. 19.
Last Week’s Top Performers
- Aleksa Mandic (So., OH, SHU) totaled 27 kills, eight aces, three assists, 15 digs and three blocks, one solo, over two matches. In a win vs. STAC he had 13 kills and seven aces, the top service performance in a match this season. Three of the top six ace totals in a match this year belong to Mandic.
- Henry Wedbush (Sr., S, PRIN) gave out 31 assists to go with seven digs and four blocks, leading the Tiger offense to .358 hitting with 13 errors over four sets.
- Max Nissen (So., OH, UCWV) hit 16-1-24 .625 in four sets over two matches with five digs and a solo block.
- Xander Bomert (Fr., OH, UCWV) played only one match, against Thomas More, hitting 17-2-28 .536 with four digs and a block.
- Joonatan Salpakari (R-So., OH, UCWV) had 10 kills on .412 hitting with two aces, three assists, five digs and a solo block in his one match vs. Wittenburg.
- Braxton Francis (Fr., MB, UCWV) had seven kills on 10 error-free swings to hit .700 with two aces, one assist, five digs and five blocks, two solo, over five sets played.
- Alexander Lillie (Fr., MB, GMU) had nine kills, three digs and seven blocks, six solo.
- Liam French (R-Jr., OH, GMU) had 13 kills on an error-free 22 swings to hit .591 with an ace, an assist, two digs and a block.
EIVA Standings
EIVA Schedule
EIVA Statistics
EIVA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE DEFENSIVE
Jan. 13 Will Kuhns, PSU Curtis Raines, Charleston
Jan. 20 Xander Bomert, Charleston Braeden Goebbert, NJIT
Jan. 27 Alessandro Negri, NJIT Elijah Lazor, George Mason
Feb. 3 Nyherowo Omene, Princeton Alexander Lillie,George Mason
Feb. 10 Xander Bomert, Charleston Alexander Lillie,George Mason
Feb. 17 Matthew Louma, Penn State Alexander Lillie,George Mason
Feb. 24 Nyherowo Omene, Princeton Ryan Merk, Penn State
March 3 Robert Evangelista, G Mason Will Kuhns, Penn State
March 10 Zach Berty, Harvard Korben Phillips, Charleston
March 17 Xander Bomert, Charleston Ryan Merk, Penn State
March 24 Nyherowo Omene, Princeton Dylan McClung, Sacred Heart
EIVA RECORD VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
| AVCA Top 20 (Non EIVA) |
0-36 |
| Big West |
0-17 |
| Conf. Carolinas |
4-0 |
| ECC |
8-1 |
| IVA |
3-6 |
| MIVA |
3-10 |
| MPSF |
0-14 |
| NEC |
12-4 |
| SIAC |
0-0 |
| Independent |
3-2 |
| NCAA Div. III |
1-0 |
EIVA IN NCAA TOP 10 STAT RANKINGS
Div. I-II Team Leaders
(via ncaa.com last updated March 24)
Aces Per Set: 1. LBSU 2.54
Assists Per Set: 1. USC 12.76; 8. UCWV 11.87
Blocks Per Set: 1. USC 2.905
Digs Per Set: 1. Erskine 10.85
Hitting Percentage: 1. LBSU .407
Kills Per Set: 1. USC 13.73
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1. Lincoln Mem. .162
Team Attacks Per Set: 1. Kentucky State 30.30
Div. I-II Individual Leaders
(via ncaa.com last updated March 24)
Aces Per Set: 1. Moni Nikolov (LBSU) 1.154
Assists Per Set: 1. Caleb Blanchette (USC) 11.41
Attacks Per Set: 1. Alendy Sincoul (LeMoyne-Owen) 10.69
Blocks Per Set: 1. Nicodemus Meyer (Loyola Chicago) 1.274
Digs Per Set: 1. Luca Colombo (Mount Olive) 3.10
Hitting Percentage: 1. Matthew Gentry (Linc. Mem.) .580
Kills Per Set: 1. Deklan Wingo (Tusculum) 4.93; 8. Nyherowo Omene (PRIN) 4.22
Points Per Set: 1. Deklan Wingo (Tusculum) 5.55; 5. Nyherowo Omene (PRIN) 5.08
NATIONAL RANKINGS
NCAA RPI RANKINGS
March 24
1 Long Beach State
2 Hawaii
3 UC Irvine
4 Loyola Chicago
5 UCLA
6 McKendree
7 CSUN
8 BYU
9 Southern California
10 Grand Canyon
19 Princeton
22 George Mason
24 Penn State
25 Harvard
29 NJIT
35 Charleston
37 Sacred Heart
AVCA Div. I-II Coaches’ Poll
March 24
| Rank |
School [first-place votes] |
Pts. Adj. |
Rec. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
Long Beach State [23] |
460 |
20-0 |
1 |
| 2 |
UCLA |
437 |
14-3 |
2 |
| 3 |
Southern California |
402 |
16-2 |
3 |
| 4 |
Hawai‘i |
392 |
19-2 |
4 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
379 |
14-4 |
5 |
| 6 |
Loyola Chicago |
320 |
17-2 |
8 |
| 7 |
BYU |
316 |
15-7 |
6 |
| 8 |
CSUN |
293 |
15-5 |
7 |
| 9 |
Pepperdine |
279 |
14-4 |
9 |
| 10 |
McKendree |
260 |
15-5 |
10 |
| 11 |
UC San Diego |
212 |
16-4 |
12 |
| 12 |
Stanford |
206 |
7-10 |
11 |
| 13 |
Grand Canyon |
185 |
14-6 |
14 |
| 14 |
Ball State |
178 |
16-8 |
13 |
| 15 |
Lewis |
159 |
17-7 |
15 |
| 16 |
Lincoln Memorial |
112 |
16-1 |
16 |
| 17 |
Ohio State |
90 |
11-10 |
17 |
| 18 |
UC Santa Barbara |
74 |
8-10 |
18 |
| 19 |
Princeton |
28 |
7-9 |
19 |
| 20 |
George Mason |
18 |
12-7 |
RV |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Mount Olive 13; Penn State 11; Harvard 4
Dropped out: Penn State (20)
OFF THE BLOCK Media Poll
March 25
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
Long Beach State |
20-0 |
110 (11) |
1 |
| 2 |
UCLA |
14-3 |
98 |
2 |
| 3 |
USC |
16-2 |
85 |
3 |
| 4 |
Hawai’i |
19-2 |
75 |
4 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
14-4 |
71 |
5 |
| 6 |
Loyola |
17-2 |
47 |
8 |
| 7 |
CSUN |
15-5 |
32 |
7 |
| 8 |
McKendree |
15-5 |
28 |
9 |
| 9 |
BYU |
15-7 |
27 |
6 |
| 10 |
Pepperdine |
14-4 |
19 |
10 |
Also receiving votes: Lincoln Memorial 7; Grand Canyon 3; UC San Diego 2; Ball State 1
Dropped out of rankings: N/A
OTB Div. II Coaches’ Poll
March 19
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
McKendree |
13-5 |
79 (7) |
1 |
| 2 |
Lewis |
16-6 |
70 |
2 |
| 3 |
Lincoln Memorial |
15-1 |
67 (1) |
3 |
| 4 |
Mount Olive |
14-2 |
56 |
4 |
| 5 |
Daemen |
9-4 |
41 |
5 |
| 6 |
Charleston |
9-11 |
35 |
6 |
| 7 |
Concordia |
6-13 |
29 |
7 |
| 8 |
St. Thomas Aquinas |
11-7 |
18 |
10 |
| 9 |
Belmont Abbey |
10-8 |
16 |
8 |
| 10 |
Vanguard |
6-11 |
12 |
9 |
Also receiving votes: Rockhurst 8; Maryville 4; Tusculum 3; North Greenville 1
Dropped out of rankings: None