D1 Match of the Week: George Mason Defeats NJIT in Four Sets

NJIT hit the road for KP’s NCAA Division One Match of the Week on Friday, March 14^th to take on fellow EIVA member George Mason. The first time these two met up this season NJIT came out on top in a five-set thriller.  Currently the EIVA standings are tight, six teams realistically still have a shot to be the number one seed in the EIVA tournament.  It appears that the EIVA will not get one of the NCAA at large bids to the tournament, so these conference matches that determine the EIVA tournament seedings are critical.  “The EIVA had been a close race between all teams in the first half.  We have six games left to try and separate us from the group.  A month to be playing our best volleyball,” said NJIT Head Coach Danny Goncalves.

For the rematch George Mason came out on top 3 sets to 1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19).  In the first set NJIT came out on fire hitting .688, with 12 kills and only committing one hitting error.  Leading the Highlanders during that red hot first set was Antonio Feliciano, who finished the match with 14 kills and hit .375.  “The match started out with us being very hot offensively.  Mason turned up the service pressure the rest of the match forcing us off the net more than we had been.  With increased service pressure and too many unforced errors on our side of the net made it difficult to secure a victory,” said Coach.

Mason did not panic after set one.  In sets two through four the Patriots supplied great service pressure that cooled down the Highlanders to finish with a .287 hitting percentage for the match. Setter Troy McDonald dished out 46 assists while running a balanced offense.  Over four Patriots had over nine kills and as a team they hit .365. “Troy has done a nice job of finding the right players at the right times this year.  His balance of offense is what keeps teams guessing at times and it helps us be successful,” said George Mason Head Coach Jay Hosack.

The second half of EIVA is going to be exciting to follow.  George Mason sits at the top with a conference record of 3-1 and 11-6 overall.  This upcoming week they take a little break from conference play, but they will have their hands full hosting the Daemen Wildcats and UCI.  NJIT moves to 7-10 overall and 2-4 in conference play.  The Highlanders also take a break in the action of conference play, but they are going to challenge themselves traveling out west for two matches against the number one ranked Long Beach State program.

Outside of the match the Patriots are celebrating 50 years of having a program.  Many student-athletes have achieved greatness on the floor, and they are making an impact in society after they graduate.  While following George Mason’s Instagram fans can notice that they run an annual alumni golf tournament and have multiple cookouts during the year to create an awesome culture for the program.  “Our program is celebrating its 50^th year as a varsity program, which very few teams can say.  It puts us in an elite category. All of the alumni over the years have been so supportive and they continue to be great mentors to our guys,” said Coach Hosack.

George Mason:

Volleyball History:

– Program has been around for 50 years. We are celebrating our 50-year anniversary this year with alumni weekend on April 18 and 19^th.

With the program starting in 1975 with Wayne Stalick as head coach. Four appearances at the NAIA Tournament in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Four EIVA Conference titles with four NCAA Tournament appearances in 1984, 1985, 1988, and 2016. Two third place finishes in 1984 and 1985 defeating Ball State in both years. Had three players from last year sign professional contracts in Europe. Omar Hoyos plays in Spain for Club Teruel, Jack Bolz is in Portugal for Vitoria Sport Clube, and Paul Wyszynski is at Poland playing for Czarni Radom.

Coaching History:

• Wayne Stalick (1975-85, 87-90)
• Ron Shayka (1986, 91-96, 98)
• Uvaldo Acosta (1997-1998)
• Fred Chao (1999-2015)
• Jay Hosack (2016-present)

Notable Alumni:

• Uvaldo Acosta (3x All-American, U.S. National team member from 1989-1992)
• Moyo Kasim (4x All-American)
• Ric Lucas (2x All-American)
• Brian Negron (Puerto Rico National team member and 2018 EIVA Player of the Year)
• Hayden Wagner (3x All-American)
• Willie Hughes. (2x All-American, the first Patriot to be an All-American)
• Omar Hoyos (2024 All-American, plays professionally in Spain, represents the Puerto Rican National Team)

 Making an impact on the community:

The Patriots volunteer a lot of their time at Oak View Elementary School.

Academics:  

• It is a public school located in Fairfax, Virginia and the enrollment for the 2024 Fall season was 40,710 students with 29,368 undergraduates and 10,680 graduate students including 662 law school students.
• Over 200 undergraduate and graduate degrees
• 78 undergraduate degrees with various concentrations
• 94 master’s degrees with 38 doctoral degrees and 100 graduate-level certificates and a law school.

NJIT:

Volleyball History:

• 1971 was the first season for the Highlanders.
• Member of the EIVA | https://eivavolleyball.com/

List of All-Americans & Academic All-Americans | https://njithighlanders.com/documents/2022/5/26/NJIT_All_Americans_Academic_All_Americans_Updated_May_2022_.pdf

Notable Alumni:

Dave DeNure | https://njithighlanders.com/honors/hall-of-fame/dave-denure/65

Wycliffe Gordon | https://njithighlanders.com/honors/hall-of-fame/wycliffe-gordon/84

Harold Nazarie | https://njithighlanders.com/honors/hall-of-fame/harold-nazaire/88

Tarik Rodgers |  https://njithighlanders.com/honors/hall-of-fame/tarik-rodgers/69

Rudy Romulus | https://njithighlanders.com/honors/hall-of-fame/rudy-romulus/45

Alvaro Gimeno | https://njithighlanders.com/sports/mens-volleyball/roster/alvaro-gimeno/6842

Luca Lurger | https://njithighlanders.com/sports/mens-volleyball/roster/luca-berger/6838

Coaching History: https://njithighlanders.com/documents/2022/5/26/MVB_YBY_April_2022_.pdf

Making an impact on the community:

NJIT Athletics Education Day during a men’s basketball game (over 1,200 students (elementary school), toured the campus of NJIT and Athletics facilities before the men’s basketball game.  Members of the NJIT men’s volleyball team were the leaders of groups giving the tour around campus

Branch Brook Park Cleanup – Members and coaches of the NJIT men’s volleyball team clean up the park near the University (picking up trash, planting trees/flowers, etc).

Academics:

Majors at NJIT | https://www.njit.edu/academics/degrees#/

Over 13,000 enrollment

Newark, NJ

About NJIT | https://catalog.njit.edu/about-university/#:~:text=NJIT%2C%20a%20top%2Dranked%20public,well%20as%20management%20and%20humanities.

NJIT Articles

https://news.njit.edu/njit-ranks-no-1-new-york-times-college-ranking-tool

https://news.njit.edu/njit-climbs-rankings-us-news-world-report-top-50-public-university?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=stats&utm_campaign=us_ranking

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