Purdue Fort Wayne
George Mason
George Mason and NJIT Visit Fort Wayne
1/26/2017 11:30:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Who: No. 12 George Mason Patriots
When: Friday, January 27 | 7 p.m.
Where: Arnie Ball Court | Fort Wayne, Ind.
All-Time Series: Fort Wayne Leads 25-23
Last Meeting: January 29, 2016 | Fairfax, Va. | Fort Wayne 3, George Mason 0 (25-18, 26-24, 28-26)
Live Stats: Live Stats
Live Video: Live Video $
Live Audio: Live Audio
Play-by-Play: Mike Maahs
Who: NJIT Highlanders
When: Saturday, January 28 | 7 p.m.
Where: Arnie Ball Court | Fort Wayne, Ind.
All-Time Series: Fort Wayne leads 12-1
Last Meeting: January 30, 2016 | Newark, N.J. | Fort Wayne 3, NJIT 2 (25-19, 18-25, 17-25, 25-23, 15-11)
Live Stats: Live Stats
Live Video: Live Video $
Live Audio: Live Audio
Play-by-Play: Mike Maahs
Scouting the Mastodons (1-8, 0-0 MIVA)
Coach: Ryan Perrotte | Second Season (11-27)
Kills: 361 | Pelegrin Vargas (105)
Assists: 343 | Michael Keegan (273)
Digs: 255 | Jack Carlson (57)
Blocks: 56.0 | Graydon Schroeder (27.0)
Aces: 22 | Colton Stone (9)
Attack %: .208 | Michael Keegan (.393)
The Mastodons enter the weekend 1-8 and are coming off a 1-2 weekend trip. They fell to Harvard and Sacred Heart, but ended the weekend on a win at Alderson Broaddus. The Mastodons faced five ranked opponents in the first six matches of the season. The matchup with George Mason will be the first ranked opponent that the Mastodons have faced since January 14, when No. 14 Penn State visited Fort Wayne, taking a 3-0 victory. Michael Keegan had the first double-double of the 'Dons' season at Harvard, recording 46 assists and 10 digs.
Scouting the Patriots (4-2, 1-0 EIVA)
Coach: Jay Hosack
Kills: 235 | Jack Wilson (72)
Assists: 210 | Brian Negron (177)
Digs: 158 | Seth Blevins (37)
Blocks: 55.0 | Jack Wilson, Langston Payne, Graham Gresham (15.0)
Aces: 36 | Brian Negron, Kyle Barnes, Garret Kollar (7)
Attack %: .294 | Brian Negron (.650)
George Mason comes to the Hoosier state 4-2, and will visit Fort Wayne after taking on Ball State on Thursday (Jan. 26). The Patriots' two losses have come to fellow MIVA teams Ohio State and Loyola. The Patriots took Loyola into five sets, but fell to Ohio State in three. George Mason has wins over Belmont Abbey, Limestone, Charleston and King. George Mason was selected in the preseason to win the EIVA, and is currently ranked 12th in the AVCA Top 15 Poll.
Scouting the Highlanders (3-2, 0-0 EIVA)
Coach: Danny Goncalves
Kills: 213 | Jabarry Goodridge (77)
Assists: 202 | Ricardo Whitaker (173)
Digs: 124 | Shannon Heckman (33)
Blocks: 36.5 | Luke Allmond (11.0)
Aces: 41 | Jabarry Goodridge (12)
Attack %: .280 | Luke Allmond (.364)
NJIT comes to Indiana holding a 3-2 record, but will face off against Ball State on Friday (Jan. 27) before coming to Fort Wayne. The Highlanders fell to MIVA members Loyola and Lewis in three and four sets respectively to open their season. NJIT have gone 3-0 since starting the year 0-2 with wins over North Greenville, Kean and UC Santa Cruz.
Off the Block
Graydon Schroeder is ranked sixth in the MIVA and 18th nationally in blocks per set with 1.00 for a total of 27.0. Schroeder had six blocks at Sacred Heart.
Freshmen Killin' It
Freshman Pelegrin Vargas is starting off his freshman campaign with Fort Wayne on a strong note. He is the Mastodons' kill leader, totaling 105 through nine matches. Vargas had a career-high 17 kills at Harvard, while having six total matches with double-digit kills. Vargas' 3.50 kills per set is fourth best in the MIVA. Fellow freshman Richie Diedrich has 45 kills while also chipping in 15.0 blocks, both good for third best on the Mastodon squad.
Last Time Out
Fort Wayne took down Alderson Broaddus in three sets (26-24, 25-18, 25-21) in Philippi, West Virginia. The 'Dons had their best hitting day of the season, hitting .347.
Next Time Up
Fort Wayne hosts McKendree and reigning national champion Ohio State in the Gates Center at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 3-4). Ohio State was the preseason MIVA favorite and preseason No. 1 in the AVCA national rankings.
~ Feel the Rumble ~
