This week's news and notes:
The EIVA Players of the Week faced each other last weekend, a rarity for the conference's weekly award winners. The matches brought two impressive performances and two momentous wins for Sacred Heart.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Aleksa Mandic, Jr., OH, Sacred Heart
Aleksa’s all-around performance helped the Pioneers to a pair of wins at Princeton, marking Sacred Heart’s first victory against the Tigers since 2018, first EIVA weekend sweep since 2019 and first EIVA road win since 2022. The junior outside hitter totaled 34 kills on .308 hitting with 10 aces, four assists, 13 digs and five blocks, one solo. He delivered 18 kills on .325 hitting with five aces, two assists, two blocks and one dig in a 3-2 victory in the weekend opener April 3. He also had only one service error during the marathon contest. The following day he had 16 kills on .289 hitting with five more aces, two assists, nine digs and three blocks, one solo, in a 3-1 win. Mandic, who averages an EIVA-leading 0.576 aces per set and ranks fourth nationally, has posted four or more aces in five matches this season. He also ranks fourth in the EIVA in kills per set (3.33), points per set (4.03) and hitting (.265). This is Mandic’s first career EIVA weekly honor.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tristan Whitfield, Jr., MB, Princeton
Tristan was tough to beat and even tougher to stop even in a pair of Tiger losses to Sacred Heart. The junior middle blocker was error-free in his swings all weekend in 3-2 and 3-1 setbacks to the Pioneers, totaling 13 kills on 22 swings to hit .591, adding one ace and three assists, nine blocks and 10 digs. In the opener April 3, he had seven kills on 10 swings to hit .700, plus an ace, two assists, four blocks and five digs. He added six kills on 12 swings to hit .500 with an assist, five blocks and five digs. Over his last three matches Whitfield has 17 kills on 26 error-free swings to hit .654, plus 14 blocks, and over his past nine matches he has 47 kills and seven errors on .506 hitting with 35 blocks. Whitfield is fourth in the EIVA and 21st nationally averaging 1.017 blocks per set. This is the second EIVA weekly honor of Whitfield’s career and first of the season.
2026 EIVA Weekly Award Winners
THIS WEEK IN THE EIVA
- With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the EIVA picture is beginning to clear. Penn State is in the driver’s seat to take the regular-season title and earn the top spot for the EIVA Championship Tournament. Three wins in PSU’s final four matches, or two wins and a George Mason loss, wraps up the No. 1 seed. One win or one NJIT loss secures PSU a top-two spot and first-round tournament bye.
- PSU, GMU and NJIT have clinched tournament berths. Charleston clinches with one win. No team has been eliminated from a tournament berth, but Princeton and Harvard cannot earn a top-two spot. Tournament and tie-break information can be found on Pages 6-7.
- PSU inched closer to the top spot with a pair of 3-0 sweeps of Charleston. The Nittany Lions held the edge in aces (16-4), blocks (20.5-11.5) and hitting (.292-.196). In Match 1 PSU won in aces 8-1, blocks 16-6.5 and held the Eagles to .062 hitting. PSU leads the nation in blocking and is top-20 in aces and opponent hitting.
- The wins give PSU coach Mark Pavlik 710 for his career, two behind Ohio State’s Pete Hansen for No. 3 in NCAA D-I men’s volleyball history.
- Sacred Heart delivered a striking weekend with two wins at Princeton 3-2 and 3-1. The Pioneers entered the series 3-13 all time at Dillon Gym. They last won there in 2017, which also was the last time they won both regular-season meetings, last beat the Tigers in 2018, last swept an EIVA series in 2019 and last won an EIVA road match in 2022.
- George Mason swept past Harvard with two 3-0 wins. The Patriots have won eight straight, 12 of their last 13, and have won 10 straight at home. GMU outhit the Crimson .335-.139.
- NJIT swept Merrimack 3-0 to improve to 10-0 at the WEC. It was the final non-conference match of the season for EIVA teams, who finished a combined 53-42 outside the league.
- Penn State and NJIT remained Nos. 15 and 19, respectively, in the AVCA top 20 and George Mason was receiving votes.
- Charleston remains No. 6 in Off The Block’s D-2 coaches’ poll.
Last Week's Top Performers
- Alexander Lillie (So., MB, GMU) hit 18-2-22 .727 with nine blocks, one solo, and a pair of digs. In EIVA-only matches he is hitting 50-8-72 .583.
- Georgi Zahariev (Sr., S, GMU) had 67 assists while directing the Patriot offense to a .335 hitting weekend. He also had five kills on an error-free eight swings to hit .625, plus five aces, six digs and four blocks, two solo.
- Jackson Herbert (Jr., OPP, GMU) had 11 kills, five aces, 15 digs and one block.
- Wiktor Nowak (So., OPP, NJIT) had 15 kills on .333 hitting with five digs and three blocks, one solo.
- 3-0 W vs Merrimack
- Bruno Figueiredo (So., S, NJIT) had 28 assists, one kill, one ace, three blocks and five digs, directing the Highlander offense to .275 hitting vs. Merrimack.
- Conrad SpidsØ (Fr., OH, UCWV) played only the second match vs. PSU, posting 14 kills on .333 hitting with five digs and two blocks, one solo.
- Owen Woolbert (Jr., MB, HARV) had 25 kills, one ace, one assist, eight digs and seven blocks, one solo.
- Owen Rose (R-Sr., MB, PSU) strengthened his lead as the nation’s leading blocker with a 10-block Match 1 vs. UCWV, including three solos. For the weekend he had nine kills on .412 hitting with three aces, one assist, three digs and 14 blocks, four solo.
- Sean Harvey (R-So., OH, PSU) had 26 kills on .373 hitting with five aces, three assists, seven digs and eight blocks. In Match 2 vs. UCWV he had 16 kills on .448 hitting with three aces.
- Matthew Luoma (R-Jr., OH, PSU) had 26 kills on .314 hitting with four aces, five blocks and seven digs.
- Andrew Werner (Sr., PIN, PRIN) had 24 kills on .310 hitting with two aces, three assists, two blocks and 13 digs.
- Petr Beranek (Jr., OH, SHU) had 26 kills, four aces, two blocks and 16 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 5)
Aces Per Set: 1. LBSU 2.44; 18. Penn State 1.50
Assists Per Set: 1. UCLA 12.92; 16. George Mason 11.49
Blocks Per Set: 1. Penn State 2.853; 16. Charleston 2.229
Digs Per Set: 1. N Greenville 10.69; 17. George Mason 9.20
Hitting Percentage: 1. UCLA .386
Kills Per Set: 1. Hawai’i 13.82; 7. George Mason 12.62
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1. Barry .153; 10. Penn State .210; 19. Charleston .223; 20. George Mason .226
Team Attacks Per Set: 1. King (TN) 30.41; 15. George Mason 28.09
Div. I-II Individual Leaders
(via ncaa.com through April 5)
Aces Per Set: 1. Zach Solomon (Linden-wood) .638; 4. Aleksa Mandic (SHU) .576
Assists Per Set: 1. Andrew Rowan (UCLA) 11.60; 11. Georgi Zahariev (GMU) 9.96; 18. Yotam Briger (UCWV) 9.57
Attacks Per Set: 1. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 9.82; 11. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 8.73
Blocks Per Set: 1. Owen Rose (PSU) 1.442; 16. Alexander Lillie (GMU) 1.052
Digs Per Set: 1. Bobby Clapp (Barry) 2.91; 19. Ryan Merk (PSU) 2.23
Hitting Percentage: 1. Morgan Makovec (Tusculum) .543
Kills Per Set: 1. Cole Hartke (Pep) 4.28; 6. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 3.97; 10. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 3.83
Points Per Set: 1. Cole Hartke (Pep) 5.26; 5. Aidan Weltin (GMU) 4.65; 12. Wiktor Nowak (NJIT) 4.42
NATIONAL RANKINGS
AVCA Div. I-II Coaches’ Poll
April 6
| Rank |
School [first-place votes] |
Pts. Adj. |
Rec. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
UCLA [23] |
498 |
21-1 |
1 |
| 2 |
Hawai‘i [1] |
475 |
23-3 |
2 |
| 3 |
Long Beach State |
439 |
18-4 |
3 |
| 4 |
Southern California [1] |
416 |
16-3 |
4 |
| 5 |
Pepperdine |
404 |
18-5 |
6 |
| 6 |
UC Irvine |
387 |
15-5 |
5 |
| 7 |
Ball State |
341 |
21-3 |
7 |
| 8 |
UC Santa Barbara |
314 |
13-9 |
8 |
| 9 |
Loyola Chicago |
296 |
17-6 |
9 |
| 10 |
BYU |
286 |
19-8 |
10 |
| 11 |
McKendree |
222 |
16-9 |
12 |
| 12 |
Lindenwood |
205 |
18-6 |
11 |
| 13 |
UC San Diego |
198 |
11-11 |
13 |
| 14 |
Stanford |
179 |
9-12 |
14 |
| 15 |
Penn State |
161 |
16-7 |
15 |
| 16 |
Lewis |
139 |
15-12 |
T-16 |
| 17 |
Ohio State |
118 |
13-10 |
T-16 |
| 18 |
CSUN |
87 |
12-10 |
18 |
| 19 |
NJIT |
36 |
14-8 |
19 |
| 20 |
Purdue Fort Wayne |
31 |
11-10 |
20 |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Belmont Abbey 9;
George Mason 9
No teams mentioned on only one ballot.
Dropped out: None
OFF THE BLOCK Media Poll
April 7
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
UCLA |
21-1 |
120 (10) |
1 |
| 2 |
Hawai’i |
23-3 |
108 |
2 |
| 3 |
Pepperdine |
18-5 |
84 |
6 |
| 4 |
Long Beach State |
18-4 |
82 |
3 |
| 5 |
USC |
16-3 |
75 |
T-4 |
| 6 |
UC Irvine |
15-5 |
58 |
T-4 |
| 7 |
Ball State |
21-3 |
54 |
7 |
| 8 |
Loyola |
17-6 |
32 |
9 |
| 9 |
UC Santa Barbara |
13-9 |
18 |
10 |
| 10 |
BYU |
19-8 |
12 |
RV |
Also receiving votes: Lindenwood 6;
Penn State 6; McKendree 5
Dropped out of rankings: Lindenwood
OTB Div. II Coaches Poll
April 1
| Rank |
School |
Rec. |
Pts. |
Prev. |
| 1 |
McKendree |
15-8 |
60 (6) |
1 |
| 2 |
Lewis |
14-11 |
54 |
2 |
| 3 |
Lincoln Memorial |
11-6 |
44 |
3 |
| T-4 |
Belmont Abbey |
16-4 |
29 |
4 |
| T-4 |
Missouri S&T |
12-5 |
29 |
5 |
| 6 |
Charleston |
13-10 |
28 |
6 |
| 7 |
Rockhurst |
14-10 |
24 |
7 |
| 8 |
Mount Olive |
21-7 |
20 |
9 |
| 9 |
Barry |
17-5 |
10 |
10 |
| 10 |
Concordia |
6-15 |
8 |
8 |
Also receiving votes: Maryville 6; Vanguard 3; Fort Valley State 3; Daemen 1; Roosevelt 1
Dropped out: N/A
NCAA RPI
Through March 29 matches (poll released late PM Tuesdays)
| Rank |
School |
| 1 |
UCLA |
| 2 |
Hawai’i |
| 3 |
Ball State |
| 4 |
Long Beach State |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
| 6 |
Lindenwood |
| 7 |
Loyola Chicago |
| 8 |
McKendree |
| 9 |
Pepperdine |
| 10 |
Southern Cal. |
|
EIVA TEAMS |
| 11 |
Penn State |
| 16 |
George Mason |
| 21 |
NJIT |
| 30 |
Charleston |
| 32 |
Princeton |
| 38 |
Harvard |
| 56 |
Sacred Heart |
