Friday, March 24
Honolulu, Hawaii
10:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
0
at
3
Hawai'i
Photo by: Paul Trafecanty
CSUN Falls to No. 4 Hawai'i in Straight Sets
3/24/2017 10:35:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
NORTHRIDGE, CA - In the first of a two-match weekend set, the fourth-ranked Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors swept the 14th-ranked CSUN Matadors 25-18, 25-23, 26-24 Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The win, Hawai'i's 20th in a row at home, moved the Rainbow Warriors to 21-4 overall and 11-4 in the MPSF. The loss dropped CSUN to 12-13 overall and 5-11 in conference play.
Junior Arvis Greene led the Matadors with a match-high 17 kills, hitting .344 on 32 swings. Sophomore Dimitar Kalchev added 12 kills (.217) and two aces which extended his CSUNÂ single season record to 61. Sophomore middle Eric Chance was effective all match long, putting down eight kills on 10 errorless attacks to hit .800.
CJ Suarez led CSUN defensively with nine of CSUN's 19 digs. The Matadors had 42 kills to 43 for the host Warriors but CSUN committed seven more hitting errors and four more service errors.Â
In the opening set, CSUN led 6-5 following an attack error by the Rainbow Warriors. But an ensuing 4-0 run by the hosts forced a Matador timeout with Hawai'i leading 9-6. CSUN got back within one at 13-12 on a Kalchev kill and the Matadors were still in the hunt at 15-13 after a Greene kill. But another 4-0 Hawai'i run boosted the lead to 19-13 which all but sealed the set.
The Matadors got back within five at 23-18 when Chance connected out of the middle but the Rainbow Warriors closed the set with two straight for the 25-18 win.
Trailing by as many as 16-10 in set two, CSUN engineered a 7-3 run to battle back to within two following a Lillethorup kill. A Josiah Byers solo block capped a 2-1 run to get the Matadors within one at 20-19 forcing the hosts in to a timeout. CSUN also crept within one at 21-20, 23-22 and finally at 24-23 when Hawai'i connected out of the middle on set point.
Looking to send the match to a fourth set, CSUNÂ used a late 4-0 run to erase a 22-19 Hawai'i lead. After taking a 23-22 lead following a Kalchev kill, the sophomore struck again after a Hawai'i kill. Holding set point at 24-23, the hosts rallied for three straight points to pull out a 26-24 win and a 3-0 sweep.
Stijn van Tilburg led the Rainbow Warriors with 13 kills on .500 hitting while Kupono Fey added 10 kills (.273).
The two teams wrap up the season series tomorrow with first serve at the Stan Sheriff Center at 10 p.m. PDT.
#GoMatadors
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Players Mentioned
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
OPP
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
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