CSUN Upsets No. 3 Hawai'i for Campbell's 300th Career Win

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The CSUN men's volleyball team made its 3-0 upset win over third-ranked Hawai'i Thursday a memorable one as head coach Jeff Campbell earned his 300th career victory and the Matadors picked up their first-ever Big West Conference win.

CSUN (11-7, 1-2 Big West) put together arguably its most complete outing of the season in knocking off the Rainbow Warriors for the first time since 2013. Senior Arvis Greene tied for match-high honors with 18 kills, hitting .438 on 32 swings.

"That was a great match, anytime Arvis hits .438 we're going to be in really good shape," said Campbell. "Eric (Chance), Dimitar (Kalchev) and Maciej (Ptaszynski) all played well, our passing was really solid, Emmett (Enriques) was outstanding. We played as good a volleyball match as we've played all year and this was against a really good Hawai'i team."

Kalchev added nine kills (.263) and a team-high nine digs while Chance chipped in eight kills (.700) and three blocks. Junior setter Sam Porter handed out 38 assists in leading the Matadors to a .352 hitting effort.

Campbell, who earned his first CSUN coaching win against Quincy in 1998, earned his 300th career win in his 594th career match.

"I owe a lot to the players that have been here and everyone associated with CSUN men's volleyball," said Campbell. "I'm really proud to be here and I love what this team and this University stand for. To have 300 wins at this University, where I graduated from and that I played for, it's just a real honor and is very sentimental to me."

The Matadors took advantage of a pair of Hawai'i hitting errors to open up a 5-2 lead early in set one. CSUN still led 8-6 when a Chance kill was followed by a pair of Ptaszynski kills giving the Matadors a five-point cushion (11-6). The Warriors trimmed the lead to 12-8 when Josiah Byers connected for consecutive kills to highlight a 3-0 CSUN run. The Matador lead swelled to as many as nine at 23-14 before a Hawai'i service error ended the set.

The visitors appeared poised to even the match after Stijn van Tilburg's kill gave Hawai'i a 19-16 lead in set two. The teams then traded sideouts before a Chance kill propelled the Matadors on a 3-0 run which tied the score at 20. The score was still knotted at 21, when kills from van Tilburg and Austin Matautia put Hawaii'i on top 23-21. But consecutive kills by Greene evened the set for the fourth time at 23-23.

Ptaszynski's serve found the net setting up the Warriors with set point at 24-23, but Porter, Byers and Chance got their hands up on consecutive blocks and a Hawai'i attack went long on set point giving the Matadors the comeback 26-24 win.

The final set was tied seven times, the last at 20-20, when a Greene kill and a Matautia hitting error gave the Matadors a 22-20 lead. CSUN still led by two at 24-22 when the visitors saved one match point following a van Tilburg kill, but Chance connected out of the middle on the Matadors' second match point and CSUN claimed its inaugural Big West win.

For Hawai'i (13-4, 1-2 Big West), van Tilburg matched Greene with 18 kills, hitting .333 on 33 attacks. The Rainbow Warriors hit .193 as a team after coming into the match hitting .371.

The same two teams complete the regular season series Friday night at 7 p.m.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Upsets No. 3 Hawai'i for Campbell's 300th Career Win

Next Event

Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Eric Chance

Maciej Ptaszynski

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Arvis Greene

Sam Porter