No. 12 CSUN Downs Stanford 25-23, 25-23, 25-22

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Junior Arvis Greene put down a match-high 16 kills and No. 12 CSUN put up a big blocking night in sweeping Stanford 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 Saturday night in a non-conference match at The Matadome.

The former MPSF rivals met for the second time this season with the Matadors coming away with 3-0 wins in each match.

"I was really pleased with the win; beating a Pac-12 school for the second time in one season is really special," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "They are a very well coached team battling through some injuries but I was really proud of the way the guys competed tonight."

Greene hit .265 on a match-high 34 swings while the Matador middle duo of Eric Chance and Josiah Byers helped make up for a tough offensive night for outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev.

"We spent a lot of time last week working with our middles on their timing and it really paid off tonight," added Campbell.

Chance had seven kills, hitting .500 while Byers added a pair of kills while matching his season-high with eight blocks (three solo). Freshman Maciej Ptaszynski also had a solid all-around match with five kills on 11 errorless swings (.455), three aces, two digs and two blocks.

CSUN, which was hitting .323 through two sets, wound up at .256 (37-17-78) as Sam Porter notched 32 assists along with a pair of kills and a career-high six blocks.

As a team, the Matadors put up a season-high 15.0 team blocks, including six solo stuffs while limiting the visiting Cardinal to a .188 (36-21-80) hitting clip. Junior libero Emmett Enriques scooped up a season-high 10 digs in the win.

Stanford came out hot in the opening set as the Cardinal held several three-point leads in the early going. After an Eric Beatty kill gave Stanford a 15-12 advantage, CSUN answered with a Greene kill which propelled the Matadors on a 4-0 run.

A Kalchev kill gave CSUN an 18-16 lead before the visitors answered with a 6-1 run to take back the lead 22-19. Another 4-0 CSUN run, highlighted by Kalchev's 20th ace of the season, put the Matadors back on top 23-22. After Jaylen Jasper's kill tied the score for the ninth and final time, CSUN got a kill from Greene followed by a triple block on set point.

Ptaszynski's ace capped a 10-4 run for the Matadors to open set two and CSUN was not threatened until the final stages of the set. The Cardinal stayed within three for much of the set before a Kevin Rakestraw kill pulled Stanford within 23-21. After Ptaszynski's kill set the Matadors up with three set points at 24-21, the Cardinal saved two set points before Greene powered a kill of the Stanford block on set point.

After CSUN jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the final set, the visitors battled back to forge a 20-20 tie. Ptaszynski then connected for a kill and an ace and Porter then put up a solo block to cap a 3-0 run. But consecutive Stanford points cut the lead to 23-22 when Kalchev struck for a kill and the Cardinal hit out on match point.

Jasper led Stanford (2-10) with 13 kills (.222) while Beatty added eight kills (.250) in the loss.

CSUN is off from match action until its hosts Cal Lutheran in its penultimate non-conference match on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.

#GoMatadors

No. 12 CSUN Downs Stanford 25-23, 25-23, 25-22

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Eric Chance

Dimitar Kalchev

Maciej Ptaszynski

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Emmett Enriques

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Sam Porter

Maciej Ptaszynski