Matadors Make Quick Work of Cal Lutheran in 3-0 Win

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The 11th-ranked CSUN Matadors made quick work of visiting Cal Lutheran Friday night, sweeping the Kingsmen in a non-conference match 25-13, 25-12, 25-18 at The Matadome.

CSUN served up 15 aces as a team while hitting .310 as senior Arvis Greene led the way with eight kills on 11 swings to hit .636. Junior Dimitar Kalchev added seven kills, hitting .417 on a team-high 12 attacks.

Greene, Josiah Byers, Maciej Ptaszynski and Ksawery Tomsia each had three aces while Kalchev, Sam Porter and Schylar Lillethorup each had one. The Matadors came within two aces of the single-match school record of 17, set in a 3-0 win over Pacific in 2009.

"Our serving was better and our passing was pretty solid tonight," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "The first two sets were very good, we executed and did a nice job. In the third set, we were able to get some guys some that don't play a lot some opportunities which showed me that we still have some work to do."

Porter handed out 20 assists with Lillethorup adding six in leading the Matador hitters to a .310 clip (31-13-58). Conversely, Cal Lutheran struggled to a .000 clip (17-17-51) as CSUN put up 7.0 team blocks to 6.0 for the Kingsmen. Byers led the Matadors with four blocks including three solo stuffs.

CSUN bolted out to a 7-2 lead in set one before the Kingsmen used an 8-4 run to close to within 11-10. A Greene kill followed by a Kalchev ace pushed the lead back to 13-10 and the Matadors reclaimed a five-point cushion (17-12) on a Byers solo block.

A Greene service error on the ensuing point would be Cal Lutheran's final point of the set as CSUN rolled off eight consecutive points to take the first set 25-13.

The Matadors scored eight of first 10 points of the second set and led 14-5 when Byers served the third of his three aces on the night. The CSUN lead was never less than eight the rest of the frame as the Matadors took a two-set lead.

After CSUN again opened up an 8-2 lead to open the final set, Campbell went to his bench and the visitors trimmed an 18-9 lead down to 22-16 before a Tomsia kill followed by a pair of Kingsmen miscues ended the match.

Setter Grant Nelson had three kills and 12 assists to lead Cal Lutheran which slipped to 10-4 on the season.

CSUN concludes the pre-Big West portion of the 2018 schedule Saturday night, traveling to Concordia-Irvine looking to avenge a 3-1 loss to the Eagles in Northridge in mid-January. First serve at CU Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Matadors Make Quick Work of Cal Lutheran in 3-0 Win

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Josiah Byers

Maciej Ptaszynski

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Schylar Lillethorup

Sam Porter

Maciej Ptaszynski

Ksawery Tomsia