California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Pepperdine
Matadors Host No. 5 Waves, Travel to CLU
2/12/2019 6:49:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK
MATCH #13:
No. 5 Pepperdine Waves (8-2) @ No. 11 CSUN Matadors (7-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019Â - 7:00 p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
MATCH #14:
No. 11Â CSUN Matadors (7-5) @Â Cal Lutheran Kingsmen (4-7)
Friday, Feb. 15, 2019Â - 7:00 p.m. PT
Gilbert Arena (1,500) - Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The 11th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team (7-5, 0-0 Big West) concludes its three-match homestand Wednesday as the Matadors host No. 5 Pepperdine in a non-conference match at 7 p.m. Two nights later, the Matadors travel to Thousand Oaks to take on Cal Lutheran in their final pre-Big West Conference tuneup. CSUN swept Cal Lutheran 25-14, 25-15, 25-18 in its only match last week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will feature live stats and will be streamed live by the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health via Big West TV. 11Â Matador home matches will feature a webcast with Darren Preston handling the play-by-play. For road matches, related links to the match, including for any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the match on the men's volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNMensVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
MATADORS INCH CLOSER TO TOP-10 IN AVCA?TOP-15 COACHES POLL
After sweeping Cal Lutheran in its only match last week, CSUN inched closer to the top-10 as the Matadors are 11th in this week's AVCA Div. I Coaches Top-15 Poll released Feb. 11. CSUN earned 77 points this week, a seven-point improvement over last week. The Matadors have been ranked as high as 10th this season, receiving a season-high 98 points on Jan. 14. CSUN has now been ranked in the AVCA Top-15 for 53 consecutive weeks and 253 of the last 279 weekly polls dating back to the 2002 season.
Long Beach State (12-0) received all 16 first place votes this week and are ranked number one for the seventh straight poll this season. Hawai'i (8-0) remained second this week followed in the top five by UC Irvine (12-2), UCLA (10-2) and Pepperdine (8-2). UC Santa Barbara (11-3) is sixth again this week followed in the top 10 by Loyola-Chicago (9-3), BYU (4-4), Stanford (7-5) and Lewis (9-4). CSUN (7-5) is 11th this week followed by Ball State (7-5), George Mason (8-2), USC (7-4) and Purdue Fort Wayne (8-5) rounds out this week's top-15.
SCOUTING REPORTS
Pepperdine: The fifth-ranked Waves (8-2) open up an eight-match road stretch on Wednesday at CSUN. Last week, Pepperdine swept both No. 7 BYU (3-0) and No. 9 Stanford (3-0) to remain unbeaten in six home matches. Senior OH David Wieczorek, who leads the Waves averaging 3.92 kills per set, was named both the AVCA National Player of the Week and the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.33 kills and 6.17 points while hitting .571 in the two wins.
Cal Lutheran: The Kingsmen (4-7) have dropped six straight matches after opening the season 4-2. Last week, the Matadors swept Cal Lutheran (25-14, 25-15, 25-18) in what was an exhibition match for the Kingsmen. Prior to that, Cal Lutheran dropped four road matches last weekend at Carthage (3-0), North Central (3-0), Dominican (3-0) and Benedictine (3-0), all teams ranked in the AVCA Division III Top-15. Junior outside hitter Patrick Rowe leads the Kingsmen averaging 2.49 kills per set while Cal Lutheran is hitting .191 as a team through 11 matches. Â Kevin Judd is in his fourth season as men's head coach at Cal Lutheran.
SERIES STORIESÂ
Wednesday's match is the second and final meeting this season and 83rd all-time between CSUN and Pepperdine with the Waves holding a 61-21 lead in the series. Pepperdine handed the Matadors a 3-1 loss on Jan. 30 in Malibu. Wednesday marks the Waves' first trip to The Matadome in nearly two years (Feb. 3, 2016). CSUN has won 12 of the 36 meetings all-time between the two teams in Northridge.
Friday's match is the second and final meeting of the season and fifth all-time between CSUN and Cal Lutheran. The Matadors have yet to drop a set in four previous matches dating to 2016. Friday marks CSUN's first ever match in Thousand Oaks.
TOMSIA MOVES UP TO EIGHTH IN BIG WEST IN KILLS Â
Junior Ksawery Tomsia moved up to eighth in the Big West, averaging a team-high 3.41 kills per set. Tomsia, who had six kills on .455 hitting in two sets Friday against Cal Lutheran, had 65 kills (3.82 kps) over his previous four matches including a career-high 24 kills against Lewis on Jan. 26. The junior from Gdansk, Poland, who played in 17 matches and 39 sets last season, has already bettered his previous season highs in every statistical category. He also ranks second on the Matadors in aces with 21 and blocks with 31 and is third in digs with 68.
KALCHEV CLOSING ON CAREER ACES RECORD
With two aces against Cal Lutheran last Friday, senior outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev inched closer to taking over as CSUN's career aces leader. Kalchev now has 179 career service aces and trails Eric Vance and second place by two aces and CSUN career leader Eckhard Walter by four. With a team-high 27 aces this season, he ranks third in the Big West and 10th nationally in aces per set (0.54).
With his fifth kill against Ball State on Jan. 19, Kalchev became the 15th player in CSUN history to reach 1,000 career kills. With 1,076 kills in his Matador career , Kalchev moved past Brian Waite into fifth in CSUN's Rally Scoring Era kills list and is this first player since Eric Vance in 2009 to reach the career milestone.
MATADORS LOOK TO FINISH PRE-BIG WEST SCHEDULE ON HIGH NOTEÂ Â
With the conference season on the immediate horizon, CSUN looks to cap the early non-conference portion of the 2019 season on a high note. After opening the season 5-1, the Matadors struggled through an 0-4 stretch (all against ranked teams) before winning their last two. With a pair of wins this week, CSUN can head into conference play with a 9-5 overall record and a season-long, four-match winning streak.
BENCH PROVIDES SUPPORT
The Matadors turned to their bench to finish up the win over Cal Lutheran on Friday as several players set season highs. Redshirt freshman Ryan DeWeese hit a season-high .667 against the Kingsmen while adding one ace, his 10th of the season. Sophomore Domanik Stratford hit .750 while senior Sam Porter matched his season high with 13 assists to go with three digs and one ace.
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
• Head coach Jeff Campbell picked up his 180th career home win when the Matadors defeated Cal Lutheran on Friday. Campbell now has a home record of 180-114 (.612) in his 21+ seasons.
• Friday's 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran was CSUN's first sweep since upsetting then-No. 2 in straight sets on Jan. 9. The Matadors have been swept just once this season when No. 5 Loyola-Chicago blanked CSUN on Jan. 25.
• The Matadors have out-dug 10 of their first 12 opponents this season. Despite posting a 407 to 338 advantage in digs this season, CSUN ranks last in the Big West averaging 7.98 digs per set as a team.
• CSUN hit a season-high .438 against Cal Lutheran, the second time this season the Matadors have hit better than .400. CSUN also hit .417 in the win over UCLA and are now 2-0 when exceeding the .400 mark.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Friday's match at Cal Lutheran, the Matadors will have 14 days off from match action before opening up their second Big West Conference season against defending national champion Long Beach State on Mar. 1 at the Walter Pyramid. The two teams will then travel to The Matadome the next night (Mar. 2) for CSUN's conference home opener at 7 p.m.
#GoMatadors
