No. 12 CSUN Sweeps Harvard in Non-Conference Match

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Senior Arvis Greene pounded a match-high 12 kills, hitting .391 as the 12th-ranked CSUN Matadors completed non-conference play with a 25-20, 25-14, 25-23 sweep over Harvard Saturday night at The Matadome.

CSUN improves to 10-7 overall as the Matadors head into the homestretch of the 2018 season, eight Big West matches to close the regular season beginning next Thursday against No. 2 Hawai'i.

After sweeping George Mason on Friday, CSUN put up another solid hitting effort against the Crimson Saturday. The Matadors hit .333 (36-13-69), a night after hitting .429 against George Mason, as Greene led all hitters with 12 kills. Junior Dimitar Kalchev added eight kills (.294) and five digs while serving four aces.

Senior Josiah Byers chipped in seven kills with just a pair of hitting errors on 10 swings to hit .500 with six blocks. Setter Sam Porter registered 24 assists, five digs and three blocks while leading the CSUN hitters to the .333 clip.

"The key is always how do we serve and how do we pass, and I thought we stepped it up this weekend," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "We had two good teams come in this weekend and we had to step up and I thought Arvis and a lot of the guys hit at a high percentage. We're still not firing on all cylinders but we're getting better, which is the most important thing."

After the visitors claimed four of the first five points of the match, the Matadors rallied for a 4-0 run to erase a 5-4 Harvard lead. The Crimson came back to tie the score at 8-8 when CSUN put together another 4-0 run. A kill by Eric Chance pushed the Matador lead to 15-10 before extending it to 18-11.

Harvard battled back to within three at 18-15 but the Matadors closed the set on a 7-5 run to seal the set 25-20.

CSUN bolted to a 9-3 lead in set two and never looked back, hitting a match-high .375 to take the set 25-14.

Despite not featuring a single tie or lead change, set three was the tightest of the match. After the Matadors the set by scoring six of the first seven points, the Crimson battled back to keep things close at 10-8. But an ensuing 5-1 CSUN run pushed the lead back to 15-9 and despite seeing a late lead cut to two, the Matadors closed out Harvard in three sets.

Brad Gretsch led the Crimson with seven kills (.200) as Harvard hit .177 in dropping to 5-9 on the season.

CSUN continues its five-match homestand next week as the Matadors host second-ranked Hawai'i for a pair of matches Thursday and Friday (Mar. 15-16).

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No. 12 CSUN Sweeps Harvard in Non-Conference Match

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Sam Porter