UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The records may have hinted at a 20-win George Mason cruising past a Princeton team that barely snuck into the EIVA Championship Tournament on the last day of the regular season.
But it was that last weekend of the regular season, and the momentum – or lack of – that carried over to the teams’ first-round match April 22 at Penn State’s Rec Hall.
The Tigers had new life breathed into the team after taking both must-win matches from Harvard, stealing the No. 6 seed and knocking the Crimson off the bracket, while the Patriots saw a pair of 2-1 leads against Penn State fade away in two 3-2 losses.
The inspired Tigers gritted through the first two frames before dominating the final two, knocking out No. 3 seed George Mason 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-16. Princeton advances to the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. April 23 to meet No. 2 seed NJIT.
Both teams struggled through the first two sets, with Princeton (8-14, 3-9 EIVA) hitting .169 and George Mason (20-10, 8-4) hitting .215, and the Patriots had a 3.5-3 blocking edge.
The final two sets had the Tigers hitting .432, the Patriots hitting .074, with a huge 14.5-5 Tiger blocking margin.
Before the regular season’s final weekend. George Mason had been on a 10-match win streak and Princeton had won 10 straight, with the final two victories against the Tigers.
Stats
Princeton hit 51-21-109 .275, 2 aces, 49 assists, 41 digs, 17.5 blocks
Owen Mellon15 kills, .371 Hit%, 9 digs, 5 blocks
Andrew Werner 12 kills, 6 digs
Ambrose Engling 8 kills, .538 Hit%, 4 blocks
Tristan Whitfield 7 kills, .385 Hit%, 4 blocks (2 solo)
Ethan Wells 3 kills, 10 blocks (2 solo)
Nolan Kelly 38 assists, 2 kills, 9 digs
Roan Alviar 9 digs, 7 assists
George Mason hit 43-25-119 .151, 2 aces, 43 assists, 28 digs, 8.5 blocks
Alexander Lillie 12 kills, .333 Hit%, 4 blocks
Aidan Weltin 10 kills, 5 digs
Robert Evangelista 7 kills
Jackson Herbert 5 kills, 9 digs
Georgi Zahariev 36 assists
Post-match comments
Princeton coach Sam Shweisky
“Having the chance to play those matches at Harvard last weekend, really high intensity matches where we could feel our own nerves where that was part of the ecosystem. Just knew we had to weather the storm and sort of let some of that come through.”
“It’s just knocking them off the net a little bit (with service pressure to held set up the block). Georgi their setter is a phenomenal setter. When he’s in perfect, perfect pass he’s really hard to defend. Just push them off the block a little bit and maybe give our block a chance.”
Outside hitter Owen Mellon
“We feel like the ball’s rolling right now. We’re heavily in that underdog mindset with our backs against the wall. All we can do is focus on the next game in front of us. We have that opportunity (Thursday) which is exciting.”
Full Princeton session
George Mason coach Jay Hosack
“The better team won tonight, if you ask me, if you ask for my honest team. They were the better team, they had more energy, they had more enthusiasm, they did all the little things that you’re supposed to do.”
Full George Mason session