This week's news and notes:
Entering the final weekend of the regular season, this week's EIVA Players of the Week come from the two teams who will meet to determine the regular-season champion and No. 1 seed for the EIVA Championship Tournament.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Georgi Zahariev, Sr., S, George Mason
Georgi guided the Patriot offense to a pair of wins over Princeton, improving their win streak to 10 straight, and kept them in the hunt for the EIVA regular-season title. The senior setter gave out 37 assists as George Mason hit .352 with only 12 errors in a 3-1 win April 10. He also had six kills on an error-free eight swings to hit .750, two aces, seven digs and one block. The following day he posted a career-high 59 assists while GMU hit .244 in a 3-2 victory, adding three kills, two aces, four digs and two blocks. Over nine sets he totaled 96 assists, nine kills on .467 hitting, four aces, 11 digs and three blocks as the Patriots hit .289. The 59 assists in the second outing are an EIVA single-match best in 2026, marking the third time he has topped 50 this season, and he surpassed 2,000 career assists during Match 1. Zahariev leads the EIVA and ranks ninth nationally with 10.03 assists per set and the Patriots lead the EIVA and are 20th in the nation hitting .279. This is Zahariev’s third career EIVA weekly honor and second of the season.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Owen Rose, R-Sr., MB, Penn State
Owen put up another defensive wall for the Nittany Lions in a pair of five-set comeback wins at Sacred Heart. In both matches, April 10 and 11, Penn State trailed 2-1 entering the fourth set before rallying to victory. The redshirt senior middle blocker began his weekend with eight kills on .412 hitting, two aces, one assist, three digs and 11 blocks, one solo. It was the third match this season Rose has posted double digits in blocks. In the second contest Rose delivered five kills on .300 hitting, three digs and seven blocks, two solo. His weekend total saw 13 kills on .370 hitting, two aces, one assist, six digs and 18 blocks, three solo. Rose has had at least five blocks in 10 matches this season, including four of the last five with 34 total over that stretch. Both Penn State and Rose led the nation in blocking, averaging 2.86 and 1.48 blocks per set, respectively. Rose also reached 460 career blocks during the weekend, No. 5 on the Nittany Lions’ list. This is the third EIVA weekly honor of Rose’s season and seventh for his career.
2026 EIVA Weekly Award Winners
THIS WEEK IN THE EIVA
- The regular season has reached its final week and almost nothing has been decided. What is known is the EIVA Championship Tournament will be played in either University Park, Pa., or Fairfax, Va., and five of the six participants are known. Penn State, George Mason, NJIT, Charleston and Sacred Heart have all clinched spots in the event, which will be played April 22-25.
- The Nittany Lions and Patriots meet in Rec Hall on April 17-18, and the Lions need only to win one match to lock up first place and tournament hosting duties. If GMU wins both days the tournament will be played in the RAC.
- GMU and NJIT face the possibility of being tied. The Highlanders hold the tiebreaker edge (4-3 head-to-head sets record) and would finish second, with a first-round tournament bye, and the Patriots would be third.
- EIVA tiebreak criteria, which applies to all ties in the standings, can be found on Page 6. In the event of a three-team tie, the results of the three teams tied are combined. There are two possible three-team ties. Should Charleston (regular season is complete), Sacred Heart and Harvard all finish with 4-8 records, the head-to-head records among the three teams is combined. Harvard (3-1 record) would place fourth, UCWV (2-2) would be fifth and SHU (1-3) sixth. If only the Crimson and Eagles are tied, Harvard has the edge winning both regular-season meetings, while UCWV won both meetings with SHU should only those two teams tie.
- If Princeton takes both matches from Harvard, the Tigers would earn sixth place and a tournament berth. The Crimson need one win to clinch a spot and eliminate Princeton. If the Tigers win both and SHU also has a 3-9 record, that three-way tie also would be decided head-to-head among the three. The Pioneers would take fifth (3-1 record), Princeton (2-2) would be sixth and Harvard (1-3) would be eliminated.
- In addition to the impact on the standings and tournament hosting duties, the PSU-GMU matches also will see Nittany Lion coach Mark Pavlik’s final regular-season home matches. He will be honored before the April 17 contest. Pavlik is retiring after this season, his 32 nd as head coach. He enters the weekend with 712 career wins, which is tied with former Ohio State coach Pete Hansen for third in NCAA men’s volleyball coaching history.
- George Mason enters the weekend riding a 10-match win streak. The Patriots had an 11-match streak in 2024, and have had eight other runs ranging from 11 to 17 games all between 1979 and 1987. GMU also has reached 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2008, and the fourth 20-win season since 2000, and finished the regular season 15-2 at home.
- Penn State has won seven straight, rallying from 2-1 down in each of two five-set wins at Sacred Heart on April 10-11. PSU is now 27-2 all-time vs. SHU, and the Pioneers last beat the Lions in 2017.
- When Penn State and George Mason meet, it will feature the classic “great offense vs. great defense” storyline. PSU leads the nation in blocking (2.864 blocks per set) and is ninth nationally in opponent hitting (.211). GMU is fifth in the nation in kills per set (12.71), 16th in assists (11.56) and 20th in hitting (.279).
- NJIT took two matches from Charleston to remain a perfect 12-0 in home matches. The Highlanders join UCLA and UMES as the only D-1 teams to be undefeated at home in 2026. NJIT’s 16 wins are the most for the program since winning 17 in 2022.
- In the AVCA rankings, PSU remains No. 15, NJIT is No. 20 and GMU is receiving votes. Charleston is No. 6 in Off The Block’s D-2 coaches’ poll. PSU (11), GMU (15) and NJIT (19) are all in the NCAA RPI top 20.
NCAA Coaching Wins
Al Scates (UCLA) 1,239
Don Shondell (Ball State) 769
Mark Pavlik (Penn State)* 712
Pete Hanson (Ohio State) 712
* Active
Last Week's Top Performers
- Sean Harvey (R-So., OH, PSU) put down 38 kills on .329 hitting with four aces, nine digs and six blocks. He had 19 kills in each match vs. SHU. In the first contest with PSU trailing 2-1, Harvey had seven kills on .778 hitting with two aces and a block during the fourth set. In the fifth set of Match 2, also after PSU trailed 2-1, he had four kills on .800 hitting with a block.
- Tristan Hassell (Fr., OPP, PSU) had 19 kills on .351 hitting with one dig and seven blocks, one solo, in Match 2 vs. SHU.
- Andre Aleixo (Fr., OH, NJIT) had 30 kills on .295 hitting with one ace, one assist, 12 digs and eight blocks, one solo.
- Daniel Latkowski (Fr., MB, NJIT) had 13 kills on .478 hitting with four aces, three digs and 14 blocks, three solo. He had four aces and six blocks in Match 1 and eight blocks in Match 2.
- Bruno Figueiredo (So., S, NJIT) had 94 assists, one kill, one ace, 12 digs, four blocks, one solo, and guided the Highlanders to .306 hitting.
- Tristan Whitfield (Jr., MB, PRIN) had 19 kills on .457 hitting with two assists, five digs and 10 blocks, two solo.
- Ryan Vena (Sr., MB, PRIN) had 24 kills, one ace, two assists, four blocks and 23 digs. He had double-digit dig totals in each match.
- Ethan Wells (So., MB, PRIN) had 14 kills on .500 hitting with one assist, five digs and 11 blocks, two solo. In Match 1 he hit 13-1-16 .750.
- Aleksa Mandic (Jr., OH, SHU) had 33 kills, three aces, three assists, 14 digs and four blocks.
- Petr Beranek (Jr., OH, SHU) had 18 kills on .364 hitting with three aces, one assist, one block and four digs in Match 1.
- Jackson Herbert (Jr., PIN, GMU) had 22 kills on .400 hitting with two aces, two assists, three blocks and 20 digs.
- Joonatan Salpakari (Sr., OH, UCWV) had 20 kills, three aces, five assists, three blocks and 10 digs.
EIVA Standings
EIVA Schedule
EIVA Statistics
EIVA RECORD VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
| AVCA Top 20 (Non EIVA) |
3-25 |
| Big West |
1-11 |
| Conf. Carolinas |
7-2 |
| ECC |
11-3 |
| GLVC |
0-0 |
| IVA |
8-3 |
| MIVA |
4-13 |
| MPSF |
2-7 |
| NEC |
18-3 |
| SIAC |
2-0 |
| Overall Non-Conference Record |
53-42 |
EIVA IN NCAA TOP 20 STAT RANKINGS
Div. I-II Team Leaders
(via ncaa.com through April 12)
Aces Per Set: 1. LBSU 2.38; 20. Penn State 1.49
Assists Per Set: 1. UCLA 12.88; 16. George Mason 11.56
Blocks Per Set: 1. Penn State 2.864; 16. Charleston 2.209; 19. NJIT 2.174
Digs Per Set: 1. N Greenville 10.63; 19. George Mason 9.34
Hitting Percentage: 1. UCLA .385; 20. George Mason .279
Kills Per Set: 1. Hawai’i 13.70; 5. George Mason 12.71
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1. Barry .152; 9. Penn State .211
Team Attacks Per Set: 1. King (TN) 30.23; 9. George Mason 28.53
Div. I-II Individual Leaders
(via ncaa.com through April 12)
Aces Per Set: 1. Zach Solomon (Linden-wood) .614; 5. Aleksa Mandic (SHU) .547
Assists Per Set: 1. Andrew Rowan (UCLA) 11.53; 9. Georgi Zahariev (GMU) 10.03; 17. Yotam Briger (UCWV) 9.67; 18. Bruno Figueiredo (NJIT) 9.63
Attacks Per Set: 1. Dominic Rossi (Thom More) 9.91; 2. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 9.78; 11. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 8.73
Blocks Per Set: 1. Owen Rose (PSU) 1.483; 17. Tristan Whitfield (PRIN) 1.029
Digs Per Set: 1. Bobby Clapp (Barry) 2.88
Hitting Percentage: 1. Morgan Makovec (Tusculum) .531
Kills Per Set: 1. Cole Hartke (Pep) 4.30; 6. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 3.94; 10. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 3.86
Points Per Set: 1. Cole Hartke (Pep) 5.28; 6. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 4.61; 10. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 4.46
NATIONAL RANKINGS
AVCA Div. I-II Coaches’ Poll
April 13
| Rank |
School [first-place votes] |
Pts. Adj. |
Rec. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
UCLA [25] |
500 |
24-1 |
1 |
| 2 |
Hawai‘i |
460 |
24-4 |
2 |
| 3 |
Long Beach State |
450 |
20-4 |
3 |
| 4 |
Pepperdine |
425 |
20-5 |
5 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
397 |
17-5 |
6 |
| 6 |
Southern California |
390 |
17-4 |
4 |
| 7 |
Ball State |
335 |
22-4 |
7 |
| 8 |
BYU |
311 |
20-9 |
10 |
| 9 |
UC Santa Barbara |
297 |
13-11 |
8 |
| 10 |
Loyola Chicago |
284 |
18-7 |
9 |
| 11 |
UC San Diego |
226 |
12-12 |
13 |
| 12 |
Lindenwood |
221 |
20-6 |
12 |
| 13 |
McKendree |
201 |
17-10 |
11 |
| 14 |
Stanford |
170 |
9-14 |
14 |
| 15 |
Penn State |
155 |
18-7 |
15 |
| 16 |
Lewis |
133 |
16-13 |
16 |
| 17 |
Ohio State |
122 |
14-11 |
17 |
| 18 |
CSUN |
85 |
12-12 |
18 |
| 19 |
Purdue Fort Wayne |
42 |
12-11 |
20 |
| 20 |
NJIT |
30 |
16-8 |
19 |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots:
George Mason 11; Belmont Abbey 4
1 team mentioned on only one ballot for 1 point.
Dropped out: None
OFF THE BLOCK Media Poll
April 14
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
UCLA |
24-1 |
110 (11) |
1 |
| 2 |
Hawai’i |
24-4 |
97 |
2 |
| 3 |
Long Beach State |
20-4 |
83 |
4 |
| 4 |
Pepperdine |
20-5 |
78 |
3 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
17-5 |
64 |
6 |
| 6 |
USC |
17-4 |
55 |
5 |
| 7 |
Ball State |
22-4 |
47 |
7 |
| 8 |
BYU |
20-9 |
22 |
10 |
| 9 |
Loyola |
18-7 |
21 |
8 |
| 10 |
UC Santa Barbara |
13-11 |
17 |
9 |
Also receiving votes: Lindenwood 5; Penn State 4; McKendree 1; UC San Diego 1
Dropped out of rankings: Lindenwood
OTB Div. II Coaches Poll
April 8
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
McKendree |
16-9 |
70 (7) |
1 |
| 2 |
Lewis |
15-12 |
63 |
2 |
| 3 |
Lincoln Memorial |
14-6 |
54 |
3 |
| 4 |
Belmont Abbey |
16-4 |
47 |
T-4 |
| 5 |
Missouri S&T |
14-5 |
42 |
T-4 |
| 6 |
Charleston |
13-12 |
34 |
6 |
| 7 |
Rockhurst |
16-10 |
28 |
7 |
| 8 |
Mount Olive |
12-7 |
16 |
8 |
| T-9 |
Barry |
18-5 |
11 |
9 |
| T-9 |
Concordia |
6-15 |
11 |
10 |
Also receiving votes: Vanguard 5; Fort Valley State 2; Maryville 1; Roosevelt 1
Dropped out: N/A
NCAA RPI
Through March 29 matches (poll released late PM Tuesdays)
| Rank |
School |
| 1 |
Hawai'i |
| 2 |
UCLA |
| 3 |
Ball State |
| 4 |
Long Beach State |
| 5 |
Pepperdine |
| 6 |
Loyola Chicago |
| 7 |
UC Irvine |
| 8 |
Lindenwood |
| 9 |
McKendree |
| 10 |
Southern Cal. |
|
EIVA TEAMS |
| 11 |
Penn State |
| 15 |
George Mason |
| 19 |
NJIT |
| 30 |
Charleston |
| 40 |
Harvard |
| 43 |
Princeton |
| 55 |
Sacred Heart |
