CSUN Falls in Marathon Five-Setter at Concordia-Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. - Senior Arvis Greene had a career-high 28 kills but the 11th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team dropped a marathon five-set match as Concordia-Irvine upset the Matadors for the second time this season Saturday night at CU Arena.

Set scores were 25-19, 24-26, 35-37, 35-33, 15-13 as the Eagles improve to 8-6 and CSUN drops to 8-5.

Several Matadors had big offensive nights, highlighted by Greene's career-high 28 kills. Greene, who didn't play in the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season, hit .283 on a career-high 60 swings. Kalchev added a season-high 22 kills (.286) and matched his career-high with 10 digs for his third career double-double.

Freshman Maciej Ptaszynski notched his first career double-double with season-high's of 18 kills and 12 digs while junior setter Sam Porter also posted his first with career-high's of 70 assists and 10 digs. Junior libero Emmett Enriques scooped up a season-high 16 digs for CSUN in the loss.

The Matadors had 83 team kills to 67 for the Eagles but CSUN shot itself in the collective foot with a season-high 34 hitting errors along with 23 service errors. The Matadors had match point on four different occasions in the fourth set but came away empty each time.

"We had some opportunities there in the fourth set but we didn't take advantage," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "The bottom line is we need to compete when it counts and play better when the pressure is on. But you've got to Concordia credit, they played very well. Still I'm encouraged, we're playing much better than we did in January."

After the hosts won the opening set 25-19, the Matadors bounced back in the second and third sets.

Trailing 21-19 in the second, Ptaszynski put down a pair of kills to give CSUN a 22-21 lead. But Concordia claimed three of the next four points to serve for the set at 24-23. Ptaszynski connected again tying the score and followed with an ace before Josiah Byers capped the comeback with a kill for the 26-24 win.

Ptaszynski set CSUN up with set point (24-23) in the third set but a Schylar Lillethorup service error sent the set to extra points. The two teams then battled through 11 more ties in the CSUN's longest set of the season, the final tie coming at 35-25 when a Kalchev kill followed by a Kalchev-Eric Chance block sealed the set.

After CSUN squandered the four match points in the fourth set, the Eagles looked to take command with a 13-10 lead in the fifth. But a Concordia service error propelled the Matadors on a 3-0 run which tied the score while also forcing an Eagle timeout. But Porter's service error out of the timeout set the Eagles up with match point and they cashed in with their 21st team block of the match.

"We certainly had some challenges in the first month of the season but we're definitely on an upward swing as we open conference play next week," added Campbell.

CSUN opens Big West Conference play this Friday (Mar. 2), hosting top-ranked Long Beach State at 7 p.m.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Falls in Marathon Five-Setter at Concordia-Irvine

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Maciej Ptaszynski

Josiah Byers

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Emmett Enriques

Arvis Greene

Schylar Lillethorup

Sam Porter

Maciej Ptaszynski