FAIRFAX, Va. >> The connection between Hawaii and George Mason men’s volleyball goes beyond the Warriors being at the Patriots’ on-campus arena this week for the National Collegiate Volleyball Championship.

Less than a half-mile away — a short walk around picturesque Mason Pond, where Canadian geese, Hawaiian nenes’ hanai cousins, are in abundance — is a link to a tragic day off the waters of Kaneohe Bay.

In the Recreation Athletic Complex Gym hangs a reminder of Feb. 12, 1998, the day that Mason lost its dynamic second-year coach Uvaldo Acosta. The No. 8 jersey is the lone one displayed on the wall below the American flag, a tribute to the Patriots’ three-time All-American who was an apparent drowning victim during a team outing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

He was 32.

Mason was in Hawaii for a two-match series against the then-No. 4 Rainbow Warriors, a Wednesday-Friday schedule that meant the Patriots had a day off in between to enjoy some sight-seeing. After falling to Hawai’i 13-15, 15-3, 15-7, 15-12 the first night at the Stan Sheriff Center, Mason had a light practice at the arena that Thursday morning before heading across the Pali.

“I went into the arena that morning just to talk story with him a little,” said Charlie Wade, the current Warriors head coach who was then the associate coach for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.

“I was doing TV (KFVE color analyst) in those days and I was flying to Vegas for a (girls club) tournament, so I just wanted to say hi before I left. When I landed, I saw the news … Wow, I had literally just talked to him. It was really devastating. Just such a good guy, an amazing player and a good coach. He had the aloha spirit.”

Acosta left a legacy that continues today. The EIVA Player of the Year award has been renamed in his honor, and he was inducted posthumously into the EIVA Hall of Honor in 2012. The last four Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA POYs have come from Penn State, the Warriors’ semifinal opponent today at EagleBank Arena.

Both outside hitter Brett Wildman, who won in 2020 and ’22, and setter Cole Bogner, the 2021 and ’23 winner, know who Acosta was and what he represents.

“We had this conversation when we were here last year (for an EIVA regular-season match),” Bogner said during Wednesday’s press conference. “(Coach Mark Pavlik) expressed how great of an athlete (Acosta) was, how he doesn’t compare to what we see in today’s game.”

Added Wildman: “(Pavlik) talked about his spirit, on and off the court. And what he did for the collegiate game.”

Acosta came out of El Paso, Texas, hardly a hotbed of boys volleyball, and found a home with the emerging Mason program. In his three seasons with the Patriots, he become the program’s first three-time All-American and still holds the NCAA Tournament record for most digs (27) in the 1988 third-place match, a four-set loss to Ball State.

Acosta remains sprinkled across his alma mater’s record book, both single-season and career in kills and digs. He had 41 kills in the conference tournament championship against Penn State that sent Mason into the 1988 national tournament for the third time in program history.

“He was one of those players who could probably play in any era of our game,” said Pavlik, head coach at his alma mater since 1995. “He was such a phenomenal athlete and competitor. He loved playing the game.

“The Mason-Penn State rivalry is a good one, and he’s one of the best who ever competed in that rivalry. I was devastated when I heard. No team should have to go through what the Patriots had to go through that year, especially losing someone who was such a great ambassador for men’s volleyball.”

“He represents a time where midwest and East Coast volleyball was on the rise,” Stanford coach John Kosty, a member of this week’s tournament committee, said. “And he was a part of that. His impact from a player to a coach left an indelible mark on this part of the country in men’s volleyball.”

In the trophy case at the RAC, there is another Acosta jersey with a plaque that lists his accomplishments. It includes being with the U.S. national team (1989-92), where he roomed with former Warriors All-American Carlos Briceno during the World League. Briceno made the 1992 Olympic Team, while Acosta was the last player cut.

Acosta eventually returned to his alma mater, was an assistant coach (1994-96) while he finished his sociology degree and played clarinet in the GMU band. He took over in 1997, a part-time position at a program that had barely survived the athletic department cuts the year before.

Acosta had the Patriots again on the rise. GMU was 11-13 his first year, 3-3 in the EIVA; the Patriots were 4-1 when they came to Honolulu and were thrilled to take Set 1 off of Hawai’i.

They couldn’t wait for Friday’s rematch, a rematch that didn’t happen. While in the waters off North Beach, Acosta apparently got caught in the undertow of the surf line. He was reported missing at about 1 p.m. that Thursday; two hours later, his body was retrieved some 200 yards off shore by a Honolulu Fire Department rescue boat.

Although the players and coaches from both teams wanted to play, both schools’ administrations agreed to cancel. The Patriots returned the following year, swept twice by then-No. 5 Hawai’i.

Mason hasn’t been back to Honolulu since.

Current coach Jay Hosack said he had hoped to schedule the Warriors this season as a 25th anniversary commemoration. It didn’t work out but may happen next year.

Still, Hawaii did make it here to Acosta’s alma mater, seeking its third consecutive national title just a short walk across campus from where “Mr. Patriot Volleyball” is honored.