10th-Ranked Matadors Post Second Straight Sweep Over No. 3 Hawai'i

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The 10th-ranked CSUN Matadors pulled off an upset for the second consecutive night, taking down No. 3 Hawai'i 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 in a Big West Conference match Friday night at The Matadome.

With the second of back-to-back 3-0 victories, the Matadors improve to 12-7 overall and even their Big West slate at 2-2 Big West. CSUN last swept consecutive matches over the Warriors in The Matadome in 1991 and last claimed a season home series from Hawai'i in 2012.

Senior Arvis Greene led the Matadors for the second straight night, pounding 14 kills (.333) with five blocks and three digs. Junior Dimitar Kalchev added eight kills (.235) and a pair of digs while matching his career-high with six aces.

"Dimitar served so well for us tonight," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "The stats don't tell the entire story, he created overpasses, took them out of system and caused them problems. Hawai'i is a really good team and for us to beat them the way we did, it shows that we've turned the corner."

After leading CSUN to a .352 hitting clip in Thursday's opener, junior setter Sam Porter had 30 assists as the Matadors hit .368 (38-10-76). Josiah Byers and Maciej Ptaszynski each had six kills without an error as Byers hit .750 and Ptaszynski hit .500.

Eric Chance added four kills and four blocks as CSUN out-blocked Hawai'i by the margin of 9.5 to 6.0. The Matadors also had a slight edge in team digs (22-21) as libero Emmett Enriques had a team-high seven.

CSUN dominated the opening set, committing just three errors while hitting .478. After Kalchev's hitting error gave the visitors an early 7-4 lead, the Matadors answered with a 5-0 run to take the lead for good at 9-7. Kalchev's first of six aces gave CSUN a 14-8 lead and the Matador lead didn't drop below four points the rest of the set.

In set two, Hawai'i stuffed a Greene attack trimming a four-point CSUN lead down to one at 12-11. But a Kalchev kill on the next point fueled a 7-3 Matador run that forced a Warrior timeout at 19-14. After a Chance kill set CSUN up with set point at 24-20, Hawai'i saved a pair of set points before Kalchev connected on set point.

Kalchev then opened the final set with four aces as the Matadors bolted out to a 7-0 lead. CSUN led 10-1 following a Byers-Ptaszynski block and the Warriors could only get within five points to rest of the set.

Stijn van Tilburg led Hawai'i (13-5, 1-3 Big West) with 12 kills on .214 hitting while setter Joe Worsley had 29 assists and seven digs.

CSUN is off from match action until Mar. 30 when the Matadors conclude a five-match homestand against UC Santa Barbara.

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10th-Ranked Matadors Post Second Straight Sweep Over No. 3 Hawai'i

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Team Stats

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Maciej Ptaszynski

Josiah Byers

Players Mentioned

Josiah Byers

Eric Chance

Emmett Enriques

Arvis Greene

Dimitar Kalchev

Sam Porter

Maciej Ptaszynski