No. 3 Penn State men’s volleyball (22-3, 8-0 EIVA) shut out George Mason (10-14, 2-6 EIVA) in its second match of the weekend against the Patriots in Fairfax, Virginia.

The Nittany Lions finished off a quick business trip to Virginia, beating George Mason in comfortable fashion thanks to Cal Fisher’s 14 kills. Michal Kowal added 13 kills in the win.

How It Happened

Match two of the weekend started off with some back-and-forth action between both teams. The Nittany Lions held a slim 5-4 advantage early until Chey Cooper hit an attack long and his miscue for the Patriots left them behind 7-4 early in set one.

Michal Kowal got on the scoresheet as his first kill of the afternoon deflected off Geoge Mason’s defense and out of play. Cole Bogner took things over and dialed up an ace, with the Nittany Lions going on a 3-0 run before the media timeout. Penn State led 15-11 at the halfway point in set one.

Cal Fisher kept on dominating as he has been all season long. Fisher was perfect in the opening set, recording six kills on six attempts. His sixth attempt created an eight-point lead at 20-12. The Patriots finished the set strong, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Fisher capped off set one with another kill, winning it 25-20 for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State was firing on all cylinders to begin the second set, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead. Following a George Mason timeout, Toby Ezeonu notched a kill from his middle hitter position. The Nittany Lions continued to dominate and held a comfortable lead in the second set.

George Mason head coach Jay Hosack was forced to call another timeout following three-straight points converted by the Nittany Lions. Penn State led 17-10 going into the final stretch of the set. Everything continued to go the blue and white’s way, and Kowal finished things off by winning the set 25-17.

Just like set one and two, the Nittany Lions took control early in set three. Kowal recorded another kill to tack on a 5-2 lead. Ryan Merk came through with an impressive dig to allow Kowal to fire off the kill. Fisher kept slicing apart the Patriots’ defense with his 13th kill of the afternoon to make the score 9-6.

Owen Rose mishit a strike that ended up resulting in a perfectly placed kill, demonstrating that just about everything was going the Nittany Lions’ way. Penn State held a 15-10 advantage at the media timeout. Rose then brought the visiting Nittany Lion fans to their feet after his monstrous block made it a 19-12 ballgame.

Bogner fired match point into the net, giving the tiniest of life to the Patriots in set three. George Mason responded with back-to-back aces. Kowal ultimately finished the job with a kill, winning the set 25-20 and the match in straight sets.

Takeaways:

• Penn State has been throwing aside conference competition all year and it was more of the same against George Mason. The Nittany Lions still haven’t dropped a set in conference play all year. That’s pretty good, folks.
• Cal Fisher, have yourself a day! The graduate senior continued his hot hand, notching 14 kills and hitting .591 on the day.

What’s Next?

Penn State will return home for its final series of the regular season against Charleston West Virginia at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 14, in Rec Hall.