12th-Ranked CSUN Holds off UC San Diego in Four Sets

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NORTHRIDGE, CA - On the strength of 10 aces and .361 hitting, the 12th-ranked CSUN Matadors held off the visiting UC San Diego Tritons in four sets Wednesday in an MPSF match at The Matadome.

CSUN improved to 12-6 overall and inched closer to the .500 mark in conference play at 5-6.

"We passed much better than we've been passing and although we missed a lot of serves I though we played fairly well against a good UC San Diego team," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "We had some solid offensive performances tonight and defensively CJ (Suarez) played really well so I'm feeling really good about this win tonight."

Junior Arvis Greene had another big offensive night for the Matadors as he connected for a match-high 21 kills on 39 swings to hit .410. Greene also added four digs, two aces and two blocks. Sophomore Dimitar Kalchev also reached double figures in kills with 15 to go with eight digs and a pair of blocks. Kalchev also had three aces giving the NCAA leader 50 this season.

Junior Eric Chance added eight on 12 error-less attacks to hit .667 while also digging a career-high five balls while Josiah Byers had four kills (.200) and a career-high three aces. Redshirt freshman Parker Maki chipped in six kills and two aces as CSUN had 10 aces as a team.

The Matadors hit .361 behind Sam Porter's 42 assists and CSUN posted a huge advantage in digs (46-29) as Suarez came within one of his career-high with a match-high 14.

With Porter serving and CSUN holding an 8-6 in the opening set, Maki was instrumental in a 5-0 run as the Matadors opened up a 13-6 lead. The outside hitter from Newbury Park had a pair of kills and a block as CSUN took the lead for good. The visiting Tritons got within five but could get no closer as the Matadors closed the set on a Greene kill.

UCSD opened up a 15-11 lead in set two as Tanner Syftestad connected for one of his three aces. The Triton lead swelled to 17-11 before CSUN engineered a 9-3 run to pull even at 20 following a Kalchev kill. Undeterred, UCSD outscored the Matadors 5-2 down the stretch and blocked a Greene attack on set point to take the 25-22 decision.

After back-to-back aces by Kalchev gave CSUN an early 7-4 lead in the third, UCSD battled back to knot the score at 13-all. A 4-0 Matador run, capped by a Greene ace, put CSUN in front 17-13 and the Matadors eventually made it a 6-1 run to open up a 19-14 lead following another Kalchev ace. CSUN went up two sets to one when Maki's attack went off the Triton block on set point giving the Matadors the 25-18 win.

CSUN bolted out to an early 8-3 lead in the final set but was forced to hang on late. Leading 20-13, the Matadors had to withstand a late UCSD rally that cut the CSUN lead down to three at 22-19. With UCSD still within reach at 24-21, Chance connected on match point.

Syftestad led UC San Diego (5-12, 2-10 MPSF) with 16 kills (.222) while Shayne Beamer added 11 kills on .450 hitting.

CSUN hosts No. 6 UC Irvine Friday night at 7 p.m. to close out its four-match homestand.

#GoMatadors

12th-Ranked CSUN Holds off UC San Diego in Four Sets

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Eric Chance

Parker Maki

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Arvis Greene

Sam Porter