No. 3 BYU Holds off No. 14 Matadors in Four Sets

Thursday, January 19

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

6-2, 1-2MPSF

BYU

5-1, 1-0MPSF

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
BYU	23	25	25	25	3
CSUN	25	20	17	15	1

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

No. 3 BYU Holds off No. 14 Matadors in Four Sets

1/19/2017 9:57:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA - After the 14th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team took the opening set, No. 3 BYU stormed back to take the final three sets and defeat the Matadors 23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-15 in an MPSF match Thursday at The Matadome.

CSUN slipped to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the MPSF while the Cougars improved to 5-1 overall and are now 1-0 in conference.

The 1-2 punch of Arvis Greene and Dimitar Kalchev accounted for 30 of the Matadors' 40 kills in the loss. Greene pounded a match-high 17 kills (.275) to go with two digs and one block while Kalchev added 13 kills while continuing his torrid hitting at .360. The sophomore also five digs and a pair of aces.

Senior Jakub Ciesla chipped in seven kills (.125) but the remainder of the CSUN hitters had a combined three kills. Setter Sam Porter handed out 36 assists in leading the Matadors to .212 (40-18-104) team hitting clip but CSUN had trouble getting their middle attack involved.

"I thought our passing was the story of the match, we've got to be better," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "As soon as our passing broke down we couldn't run the offense very well and we struggled. We've got to bounce back tomorrow night and figure out a way to counter their serving."

Ben Patch led the Cougars with 16 kills on .278 hitting while three BYU players had two aces apiece.

The Matadors looked good in set one as they overcame an early four-point deficit. Trailing 11-7, CSUN used a 5-1 run to pull even on a Kalchev kill. After Greene's service error kept BYU in front 15-14, a kill by Greene followed by an ace and kill from Kalchev gave the Matadors their largest lead at 17-15.

CSUN maintained a one-point lead at 22-21 before another kill and ace from Kalchev set the Matadors up with set point at 24-21. After the visitors saved a pair of set points, Patch served a ball into the net and CSUN took the set 25-23.

After hitting .370 in set one, which was matched by the Cougars, the Matadors could not replicate their hitting success the rest of the match. CSUN wound up hitting .156 the rest of the match in falling by scores of 25-20, 25-17, 25-15.

The two teams conclude the regular season series Friday night at 7 p.m.

#GoMatadors