Princeton beat Harvard to gain sole possession of the lead in the EIVA, and No. 13 George Mason kept pace with a sweep of Penn State in Friday NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
Friday’s action was light and so is Saturday’s.
Eighth-ranked Stanford of the MPSF plays host to UC San Diego of the Big West and No. 9 BYU is home for Grand Canyon in the only matches involving those leagues Saturday.
The MIVA — off on Friday — has just one match on Saturday’s schedule when No. 10 Lewis goes to McKendree.
Two EIVA matches are on tap for Saturday as Princeton goes to Sacred Heart and NJIT is at Harvard.
There are three Conference Carolinas matches but only one in the league when Lees-McRae goes to North Greenville. Also, Emmanuel plays host to Coker and Barton goes to Queens.
MPSF: Fourth-ranked Pepperdine (11-2, 4-0) won 25-16, 29-27, 25-22 at Concordia (5-12, 1-4) in the only MPSF match Friday as Michael Wexter and David Wieczorek more than carried the load.
Wexter led with 24 kills and hit .452 to go with two assists, 10 digs and three blocks, one solo. Wieczorek had 22 kills and hit .400 to go with two of his team’s four aces, three digs and five blocks. The Waves hit .369.
Luke Krzmarzick led Concordia with 14 kills and hit .444, while Zachary Meyer had 12 kills, six digs and two blocks.
EIVA: Princeton (6-7, 4-0) got 20 kills from Parker Dixon and 15 from George Huhmann in its 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20 victory at Harvard (2-8, 2-2).
Dixon hit .563, while Huhmann hit .379 and had two digs, two blocks and one of his team’s nine aces.
Griffin Schmitt led Harvard with 15 kills, hitting .480. The Crimson had three blocks, all solo.
George Mason (10-3, 4-1) swept visiting Penn State (6-7, 3-1). The last time Mason swept Penn State on its home floor in Fairfax, Va., was in the EIVA Championships on April 21, 1984. Mason beat Penn State at home for the first since April 16, 2016.
Mason, which hit .349, got 11 kills from Hayden Wagner and 10 from Sam Greenslade, who hit .389. Wagner had eight digs and five blocks, one solo. Greenslade had an ace, four digs and a block. Jack Reese added nine kills and hit .615 to go with an assist, two digs and five blocks.
Calvin Mende led Penn State with 12 kills, an assist and two blocks. The Nittany Lions hit .149.
Also, Sacred Heart (2-7, 1-3) beat visiting NJIT (4-6, 0-2) in four, and Saint Francis (8-6, 2-2) swept the MIVA’s Charleston (4-10, 0-5) behind 17 kills from Michael Fisher.
Big West: UC San Diego won a non-conference match over UC Santa Cruz. The 25-18, 25-20, 25-23 victory left UCSD 6-9 as it broke a three-match losing streak. Wyatt Harrison led with 13 kills and Collin Shannon had 11. Santa Cruz is 8-13.
Conference Carolinas: Limestone (5-7, 4-4) won in four at North Greenville (8-6, 5-3) behind 14 kills by Geraldo Rivera. In non-league action, Mount Olive lost in five at Queens and Erskine beat Coker in four.
