This week's news and notes:
Charleston's Xander Bomert was tough to stop, Owen Rose and the Penn State defense were tough to beat to earn this week's EIVA awards.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Xander Bomert, So., OH, Charleston
Xander delivered a pair of solid performances to help the Eagles sweep a pair of weekend matches from Sacred Heart. The sophomore outside hitter played three sets during a 3-1 win Feb. 20, posting 12 kills on .350 hitting with four digs and a solo block. The next day he had 14 kills on .458 hitting with an assist, nine digs and two blocks, one solo. His weekend total saw 26 kills on .409 hitting with an assist, 13 digs and three blocks. He has four matches this season with nine or more kills while hitting over .450, and in seven sets played over his last three contests he had 35 kills while hitting .491. This is the fourth EIVA weekly honor of Bomert’s career and first this season.
 
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Owen Rose, R-Sr., MB, Penn State
Owen put himself in the record books both for the No. 16 Nittany Lions and the NCAA during a sweep of two matches from Harvard. The redshirt senior middle blocker weekend closed with a 3-1 victory Feb. 21 as he recorded four kills on .273 hitting with three aces, two digs and four blocks. That followed a stunning performance Feb. 13, when he had five kills on an error-free six swings to hit .833, adding three digs and 14 blocks, four solo, in a three-set sweep. His blocking total breaks the program record for blocks in a match of any length, regardless of rally or side-out scoring. It’s the highest total in the nation this season for a three-set match and matches the 14 posted by North Greenville’s Landon Richter in a 3-2 win vs. Erskine on Feb. 13. This is the fourth time a student-athlete notched 14 blocks in a three-set match since the start of rally scoring in 2001, joining Hawaii’s Dejan Miladinovic (twice in 2001) and Ball State’s Matt Walsh (2015). His weekend total saw nine kills on .471 hitting, three aces, five digs and 18 blocks, averaging 2.57 blocks per set. Rose leads the EIVA with 67 total blocks and 1.37 blocks per set and his weekend lifted him from 13th to third in the nation in blocking. This is the fifth EIVA weekly honor of Rose’s career and his first of the season.

AROUND THE EIVA

• NJIT won both of its matches over the weekend, sweeping George Mason 3-0 and holding off Manhattan 3-2 The. outcomes give the Highlanders a program-record 10 straight wins and keep them 4-0 and tied with Penn State atop the EIVA. NJIT also improved to 7-0 at the WEC this year.
• The Highlanders and Patriots play Game 2 of their home-and-home season series Feb. 27 at the RAC.
• Charleston plays two matches at Harvard Feb. 27 and 28 in the only other conference action as EIVA programs return to non-conference play until later March.
• Penn State put up a wall inside Rec Hall in two matches vs. Harvard, posting 28.5 blocks. Combined with a 17-7 advantage in aces, it resulted in .043 hitting for the Crimson. In the first match, the Nittany Lions had 18 blocks, led by EIVA Defensive Player of the Week Owen Rose’s school-record 14, to help hold Harvard to minus-.137 hitting. No Crimson hitter had more than five kills and they had 16 as a team. The success pushed PSU to No. 2 nationally in blocking.
• The Nittany Lions will not play another EIVA match until late March. They host Merrimack on Feb. 27 before beginning a stretch of four straight road matches and six straight vs. ranked opponents. PSU resumes EIVA play, and is next home, March 27-28 hosting NJIT.

Last Week's Top Performers

• Andre Aleixo (Fr., OH, NJIT) had 27 kills on .290 hitting with two aces, three assists, 12 digs and eight blocks, one solo.
• Wiktor Nowak (So., OPP, NJIT) had 14 kills on .345 hitting with an ace, three digs and three blocks, one solo. Playing only the fifth set vs. Manhattan he hit 5-0-6 .833 with one ace.
• Daniel Latkowski (Fr., MB, NJIT) hit 17-3-24 .583 with three aces and eight blocks. He had 14 kills on .611 hitting vs. Manhattan.
• Bruno Figueiredo (So., S, NJIT) delivered 81 assists to go with three kills, an ace, 18 digs and five blocks, one solo. The Highlanders hit .248 on the weekend.
• Sean Harvey (R-So., OH, PSU) had 19 kills with .213 hitting, six aces, three assists, 10 digs and 10 blocks.
• Ryan Merk (R-Sr., L, PSU) had 14 digs, one assist and was 33 for 33 in service receptions. Through the Lions’ 14 matches, 49 sets played, Merk has allowed four aces in 240 chances (.983) and over his last six matches he is 81 for 81 in receptions.
• Aidan Weltin (So., PIN, GMU) had 26 kills on .375 hitting with an ace, an assist, nine digs and five blocks.
• Lucas Torres (Sr., OH, UCWV) had 24 kills on .385 hitting with two assists, 15 digs and three blocks, two solo.
• Braxton Francis (So., OH, UCWV) hit 14-3-20 .550 with two aces, two assists, six digs and three blocks.
• Yotam Briger (So., S, UCWV) gave out 82 assists to go with one kill, one ace, one block and 17 digs and guided the Eagles to .308 hitting.

EIVA Standings
EIVA Schedule
EIVA Statistics

EIVA RECORD VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS

AVCA Top 20 (Non EIVA)	1-19
Big West	0-9
Conf. Carolinas	3-1
ECC	6-1
GLVC	0-0
IVA	4-1
MIVA	2-11
MPSF	2-5
NEC	15-2
SIAC	1-0

EIVA IN NCAA TOP 20 STAT RANKINGS
Div. I-II Team Leaders
(via ncaa.com last updated Feb. 23)
Aces Per Set: 1. LBSU 2.74; 16. Penn State 1.47
Assists Per Set: 1. UCLA 13.31; 17. Penn State 11.57
Blocks Per Set: 1. Tusculum 3.111; 2. Penn State 2.908
Digs Per Set: 1. Mt Olive 10.78; 14. Charleston 9.42; 18. Penn State 9.16
Hitting Percentage: 1. UCLA .429; 19. Penn State .275
Kills Per Set: 1. UCLA 13.80; 18. Charleston 12.17; 19. Penn State 12.08
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1. N Greenville .119; 10. Penn State .204
Team Attacks Per Set: 1. King (TN) 30.93
Div. I-II Individual Leaders
(via ncaa.com last updated Feb. 23)
Aces Per Set: 1. Skyler Varga (LBSU) .811; 20. Quinn Bishop (HARV) .444
Assists Per Set: 1. Andrew Rowan (UCLA) 11.70; 17. Yotam Briger (UCWV) 9.74; 20. Bruno Figueiredo (NJIT) 9.47
Attacks Per Set: 1. Dominic Rossi (ThMore) 10.35; 2. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 10.21; 11. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 8.81
Blocks Per Set: 1. Landon Richter (NGreen) 1.500; 3. Owen Rose (PSU) 1.367; 19. Alexander Lillie (GMU) 1.053
Digs Per Set: 1. Luca Colombo (MtOlive) 3.05; 12. Ryan Merk (PSU) 2.33
Hitting Percentage: 1. Trevor Clark (UC Irvine) .583
Kills Per Set: 1. Dillon Klein (USC) 4.34; 7. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 4.03; 16. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 3.67
Points Per Set: 1. Cole Hartke (Pep) 5.35; 9. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 4.59
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
AVCA Div. I-II Coaches’ Poll
Feb. 23

Rank	School [first-place votes]	Pts. Adj.	Rec.	Prev.
1	UCLA [25]	500	12-0	1
2	Long Beach State	467	9-2	2
3	Hawai‘i	448	12-1	3
4	UC Irvine	426	12-1	4
5	Southern California	409	8-1	5
6	BYU	367	13-2	7
7	Pepperdine	347	8-3	6
8	Loyola Chicago	316	8-4	9
9	UC San Diego	280	8-4	10
10	Ball State	277	13-2	8
11	Lindenwood	244	10-2	11
12	UC Santa Barbara	215	8-5	14
13	Ohio State	205	9-4	13
14	McKendree	162	6-7	12
15	Lewis	145	9-6	15
16	Penn State	137	10-4	16
17	CSUN	120	9-4	17
18	Stanford	101	5-8	18
19	NJIT	43	10-5	19
20	Purdue Fort Wayne	19	8-4	RV

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Lincoln Memorial 10; Belmont Abbey 5
Two teams mentioned on only one ballot for five points.
Dropped out: Lincoln Memorial (19)

OFF THE BLOCK Media Poll
Feb. 24

Rank	School	Rec.	Pts.	Prev.
1	UCLA	12-0	130 (13)	1
2	Long Beach State	9-2	107	2
3.	UC Irvine	12-1	100	3
4	Hawai’i	12-1	97	4
5	USC	8-1	85	5
6	BYU	13-2	62	8
7	Pepperdine	8-3	50	6
8	Ball State	13-2	33	7
9	Lindenwood	10-2	19	10
10	Loyola	8-4	18	9

Also receiving votes: UC San Diego 9; Belmont Abbey 2; Ohio State 2; UC Santa Barbara 1
Dropped out of rankings: None
 
OTB Div. II Coaches Poll
Feb. 18

Rank	School	Rec.	Pts.	Prev.
1	McKendree	6-6	87 (7)	1
2	Lewis	7-6	81 (1)	2
3	Missouri S&T	6-3	71 (1)	3
4	Lincoln Memorial	7-3	62	4
5	Charleston	6-6	48	6
6	Concordia	3-6	44	5
7	Mount Olive	5-3	32	7
8	Belmont Abbey	5-1	30	8
9	Rockhurst	4-9	20	9
10	Vanguard	3-6	10	10

Also receiving votes: Barry 4; St. Thomas Aquinas 3; Daemen 2
Dropped out: N/A