George Mason defeats Charleston, advancing to the EIVA Championship

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 2 George Mason battled No. 6 Charleston in the first semifinal of the EIVA Tournament.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 3-0 victory over No. 3 Princeton in the tournament's first round.

George Mason ended the Golden Eagles’ momentum, defeating Charleston 3-0.

“We made history yesterday for our program and we wanted to carry that into today’s game. George Mason just did too much for us,” Charleston hitter Garret Schnitker said.

The conference’s depth was on full showcase in the first set.

It was a battle of the heavyweights for each side.

Charleston brought the energy early as they were significantly louder than the Patriots.

However, that didn’t affect George Mason.

“We knew they were going to bring the energy. Our plan was to let our play on the court do the talking,” George Mason coach Jay Hosack said.

Omar Hoyos was dominant throughout the entire set, finishing the set with 10 kills to lead his team to the first set victory 25-23.

It wasn’t without an incredible fight from the Golden Eagles. Schnitker had eight kills to lead his team.

The second set was a completely different story for both teams.

The defense was key in the second set.

George Mason got out of the gates early with an early 3-0 run to start the set. The likes of Sam Peters and Colin Heath helped the Patriots maintain a significant lead throughout the entire set.

The third point of the set was a hard-earned point with the ball being sent back and forth seven times.

“Both teams were exhausted after that point. You don’t really see a rally go that long too often and it was nice to be on the good side of it,” George Mason head coach Hosack said.

The Patriots held their lead for the entire set taking the victory 25-16.

Jack Bolz hit double-digits in kills in the second set and consistently put balls away for his team.

The third set felt a little bit more like the first set. Charleston brought the energy once again and continued the fight.

The Patriots, though, showed that they wanted to put it away in three sets.

Multiple times in the final set, Patriot players put their bodies on the line to fight for points including libero Paul Wyszynski leaping over the seats in an attempt to save the ball.

“It shows that they are going to have to do a little more to get the ball down against us,” Hosack said.

George Mason was starting to separate itself from Charleston again towards the end of the third set.

George Mason middle blocker Lucas Little allowed the team to pull away with two straight aces and his third of the set.

The green and yellow put the match away with a Hoyos kill to take the set 25-18.

With this set win, the Patriots sweep the Golden Eagles 3-0.

For Charleston, this loss ends its season. Despite the loss, the team made history with its first-ever EIVA Tournament win in the first round.

“This season will be remembered for this program. We’re not going to be the little brother of the EIVA that you can just kick around anymore,” Charleston coach Luke Reynolds said.

George Mason moves on to the EIVA Championship after the victory in its first match of the tournament.

“This was a goal of ours at the beginning of the season. We wanted to compete and win the EIVA Championship and this was the next step in that goal,” Hosack said.

George Mason will take on the winner of Harvard and Penn State in the EIVA Championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Andrew Deal is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu