No. 3 Penn State men’s volleyball (21-3, 7-0 EIVA) swept George Mason (10-13, 2-5 EIVA) 3-0 in a dominant conference matchup Friday night in Fairfax, Virginia.

Cal Fisher led the way for the Nittany Lions with 13 kills, while Brett Wildman recorded an impressive seven service aces.

How It Happened

Fisher wasted no time getting into his groove at the start of Friday’s match, recording a service ace on the second point of the game in the midst of a 3-1 Penn State opening run. George Mason quickly matched Penn State’s pace, bringing the game back to even at eight apiece.

George Mason strung together a run of kills to go up by three on the Nittany Lions until another Fisher kill stopped the run and swung momentum back to Penn State. Just points later, a quick service error gave the serve back to the Patriots.

Penn State jumped back on top after a media timeout, going on a 4-1 run to take the lead back at 17-16 and forcing a Patriot timeout.

On the other side of the timeout, a Fisher kill followed by two Wildman aces forced another quick timeout after only three points.

The 9-1 run fueled by three-straight Wildman aces in the middle of the set proved to be too much for George Mason to overcome and Penn State took the first set 25-20.

Much like Fisher in the first set, Toby Ezeonu took control in the early stages of the second set, notching three kills on the Nittany Lions’ first five points.

The majority of the second set was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team putting together a run longer than two. George Mason created a service error followed by an attack error to give Penn State a 15-13 lead.

Led by the usual Fisher, Wildman, and Ezeonu trio, the Nittany Lions took hold of the set late and closed it out 25-20 after a George Mason service error.

Penn State took its momentum into the third set and quickly jumped out to a 5-2 lead. George Mason’s only points through the early part of the set were gifted to it by Nittany Lion errors.

Michal Kowal recorded three kills during a Penn State run that used its early momentum and kept George Mason at bay through the middle of the set as they led 15-8.

After a media timeout, George Mason came out reenergized and took the first two points, but the run was stopped abruptly by a block from Fisher and Owen Rose. Penn State took serve back and managed to increase its lead to 21-13.

In the final stages of the match, Penn State stuck to the gameplay and delivered clean final points, winning the match on a Cole Bogner and Ezeonu block that gave the Nittany Lions the third set and put George Mason away 25-15.

Takeaways:

• Penn State chose the right time to get hot. Friday’s win marks three straight sweeps from the Nittany Lions with conference and NCAA tournaments looming in the not-so-distant future.
• Cal Fisher had a great night after carding 13 kills with two aces on a .385 hitting percentage. Tonight’s performance will certainly be one that he’ll carry into the final stages of the season.
• The Nittany Lions serving drastically improved over the last three matches as they had nine service aces on the night.

What’s Next?

Penn State will return at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 8, in Fairfax, Virginia, for its second game in the series against George Mason.