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All-EIVA middle attacker Toby Ezeonu was simply unstoppable at the net.
Ezeonu finished with 16 kills on a match-best .625 attack percentage as the No. 1 seed Penn State rallied to beat the No. 2 seed George Mason 24-26, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16 in the EIVA Tournament finals on Saturday in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Ezeonu in the championship win finished with one attack error and did not have an error in any of the final three games. The middle attacker also led the Nittany Lions with five kills in the final game highlighted with back-to-back kills at the start of the game to jumpstart a 7-3 run.
Penn State out-hit George Mason .282 to .256 and had two players finish with double-digit kills in front of a home crowd of 1,125 people.
Opposite John Kerr had a team-high 19 kills, including leading all players with eight kills in the final game. In addition, middle attacker Owen Rose added five kills and zero errors on a .500 attack percentage.
Both Rose and Ezeonu defensively led all players with six blocks against the Patriots.
Penn State had three players with multiple aces and finished with 12 aces. The Nittany Lions was one ace shy of having as many aces as service errors and had nine more aces than the Patriots.
Freshman setter Michael Schwob had a match-high five aces. Outside attacker Michal Kowal contributed four aces, and Ezeonu added two aces.
George Mason opposite Jack Bolz had a match-high 20 kills on a .302 attack percentage in the finals.
Penn State with this victory will earn the EIVA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions are projected to be the No. 5 seed in the eight-team tournament, according to the latest Off the Block bracketology.