Matadors Sweep Princeton to Finish 3-0 at UCSB Invitational

Saturday, January 6

Santa Barbara, Calif.

12:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

3-0

Princeton

1-3

PRIN

CSUN

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

Matadors Sweep Princeton to Finish 3-0 at UCSB Invitational

1/6/2018 2:09:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The 11th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team finished undefeated in three matches at the UCSB Asics Invitational as senior Arvis Greene and junior Dimitar Kalchev combined for 25 kills in a 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 victory over the Princeton Tigers Saturday at Rob Gym.

CSUN (3-0) won all three matches at UCSB's annual tournament for the third consecutive season after defeating Saint Francis (3-1) and NJIT (3-0) over the last two days.

"It was a good win today, we played really well at times," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "Princeton is a good team, we just played really well. Arvis and Dimitar served well and we went to them at big points during the match. Sam (Porter) came in and did a nice job settling the team down."

Greene led CSUN in kills all three matches, pounding a match-high 14 kills in the finale. The senior from Los Angeles matched his career high with four aces while also adding three blocks and two digs. Kalchev chipped in 11 kills on .364 hitting along with four digs and a pair of aces.

Junior middle Eric Chance capped a solid tournament with seven kills on 10 swings with just one error to hit .700 with three blocks and three digs. Freshman Maciej Ptaszynski added a season-high five kills, three digs and two aces in the win.

Porter relieved Schylar Lillethorup at setter and posted 24 assists as the Matadors hit .339 over the final two sets.

After falling behind 6-4 early in the opening set, CSUN rolled off eight consecutive points with Greene at the service line. A 3-0 run by the Tigers temporarily trimmed the lead to 15-11 but Greene's third ace of the set pushed the lead back to seven at 22-15. A kill and an ace from Kalchev then clinched the set for the Matadors 25-17.

Princeton bounced back to score the first seven points of set two before a kill from Greene snapped the run. A 6-2 CSUN run trimmed a six-pint Tiger lead down to one (17-16) following a Princeton hitting error. Ptaszynski's first collegiate ace gave the Matadors their first lead of the set at 20-19 and CSUN would outscore Princeton 4-1 down the stretch to take the 25-22 win.

With the score knotted at 12 in the final set, the Matadors used a Princeton hitting error, a Kalchev kill and a kill and an ace from Greene to take the lead for good at 16-12. The Tigers got within one at 21-20 but CSUN scored four of the final five points to seal the match 25-21.

Jess Hunt led Princeton (1-3) with 11 kills on .261 hitting.

CSUN next returns home to host UC Merced in its 2018 home opener this Friday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.

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