Matadors Fall to Top-Ranked Long Beach State

NORTHRIDGE, CA - Sophomore Dimitar Kalchev broke the CSUN single season aces record but the top-ranked Long Beach State 49ers swept the 14th-ranked Matadors in an MPSF match Friday night at The Matadome.

CSUN (12-12, 5-10 MPSF) celebrated seniors Jakub Ciesla and CJ Suarez in pre-match festivities and each provided a lift but the visiting 49ers had too much firepower in the 25-19, 25-17, 25-20 victory.

"This was the first match this season where I felt like we got by a better team," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "Jakub gave us an emotional lift and we fought the entire time but they're the number one team in the country for a reason."

Kalchev also gave his team a lift as he broke Eric Vance's single season aces record by serving his 58th and 59th of the season. Coming in tied with Vance, the sophomore outside hitter from Bulgaria connected for his record-breaking 58th pulling CSUN within 10-8 in the third set. He struck again later in the set as his 59th pulled the Matadors even at 18-18.

But as was the case in all three sets, the veteran 49er team pulled away down the stretch, sealing the sweep. Kalchev had a CSUN-high 10 kills to go with four digs and one solo block.

"Dimitar was really dialed in tonight," added Campbell. "He served really well and when anyone puts that kind of pace on the ball he's going to affect the other team. He's made great strides from last year to this year and I'm really proud of him."

Junior Arvis Greene added six kills and a pair of aces and fellow junior Josiah Byers chipped in five kills on .625 hitting. Ciesla had four kills, two digs and two blocks while Suarez had a match-high seven digs in his final Matadome appearance.

For Long Beach State, which improved to 20-2 and 14-1 in conference, Kyle Ensing had a match-high 17 kills (.484) and TJ DeFalco added 12 kills on .429 hitting.

CSUN heads out on the road to close the regular season beginning next weekend (Mar. 24-25) as the Matadors travel to Hawai'i.

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Matadors Fall to Top-Ranked Long Beach State

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Team Stats

Dimitar Kalchev

Arvis Greene

Josiah Byers

Jakub Ciesla

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Jakub Ciesla

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

CJ Suarez