California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Hawai''i
12th-Ranked CSUN Travels for a Pair at No. 2 Hawai'i
3/14/2019 2:15:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK
MATCH #19Â (Big West #3):
No. 12 CSUN Matadors (10-8, 0-2 Big West) @ No. 2 Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors (15-0, 2-0 Big West)
Friday, Mar. 15, 2019Â - 10:00 p.m. PDT
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
MATCH #20 (Big West #4):
No. 12 CSUN Matadors (10-8, 0-2 Big West) @ No. 2 Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors (15-0, 2-0 Big West)
Saturday, Mar. 16, 2019Â - 10:00 p.m. PDT
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After finishing the non-conference portion of the 2019 schedule with a pair of straight-set sweeps last week, the 12th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team (10-8, 0-2 Big West) returns to conference play this weekend at second-ranked Hawai'i. The Matadors and Rainbow Warriors tangle twice this week at the Stan Sheriff Center, Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. local time).
Last week, CSUN finished up a 2-1 homestand with 3-0 wins over Saint Francis and Lindenwood.
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 REMAIN 12THÂ IN AVCAÂ TOP-15 COACHES POLL
After sweeping a pair of un-ranked opponents last week, CSUN remained 12th in this week's AVCA Div. I Coaches Top-15 Poll released Mar. 11. CSUN earned 70 points this week, up nine points from the week nine poll (Mar. 4). 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 57 consecutive weeks and 257 of the last 283 weekly polls dating back to the 2002 season.
Long Beach State (17-0) received all 16 first place votes this week and are the nation's top-ranked team for the 11th straight poll this season. Hawai'i (15-0) remained second this week followed in the top five by UC Santa Barbara (15-3), UCLA (16-4) and UC Irvine (13-4). Pepperdine (13-4) remains sixth this week followed in the top 10 by Lewis (15-4), Stanford (13-7), BYU (9-6) and USC (11-7). Loyola-Chicago (13-6) is 11th this week followed by the Matadors (10-8), Purdue Fort Wayne (11-7) and George Mason (12-4) while Ball State (10-10) rounds out this week's top-15.
SCOUTING REPORT
Hawai'i: The second-ranked Rainbow Warriors (15-0, 2-0 Big West) have won 15 straight matches to open the season and have yet to drop a set. Hawai'i won in straight sets over King University, No. 15 Ball State and No. 6 Pepperdine last week. The Rainbow Warriors are a perfect 10-0 at home with six wins over ranked teams. Junior OPP Rado Parapunov, the two-time defending Big West Player of the Week, averages 4.22 kills per set on .522 hitting to lead Hawai'i which is leading the country in hitting at .483. Head coach Charlie Wade is his 10th season at Hawai'i and sports a 168-105 career record.
SERIES STORY
The two matches this weekend are the 76th and 77th all-time between CSUN and Hawai'i with the Rainbow Warriors leading the series 55-20. The Matadors swept both matches from Hawai'i last season in Northridge which snapped an eight-match Rainbow Warrior win streak dating back to 2014. CSUN is 7-29 all-time at the Stan Sheriff Center, its last win coming in 2013.
KALCHEV SETS CSUN CAREER ACES RECORD
Senior outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev opened last week tied with Eric Vance for second place on the CSUN career aces list with 181. With aces on the first two points of the match against Saint Francis, Kalchev quickly moved into a tie for the career lead with Eckhard Walter at 183. With CSUN up 11-9, Kalchev unleashed his third ace of the match to set the career aces record with 184. The senior from Bulgaria wasn't done however and posted With a team-high 29 aces this season (0.47 per set), he ranks sixth in the Big West and 15th nationally in aces per set. 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 1,094 kills in his Matador career, Kalchev moved past Brian Waite into fifth place in CSUN's Rally Scoring Era kills list and is this first player since Vance in 2009 to reach the career milestone. Â
CSUN CAPS NON-CONFERENCE PLAY WITH WINS
The Matadors played their final non-conference matches of the regular season last week, posting 3-0 victories over Saint Francis and Lindenwood. The Matadors finished 10-6 in non-conference play after opening the season with five wins in its first six matches. CSUN lost in five sets at No. 14 Ball State on Jan. 19 which sent the Matadors on a stretch where they dropped three of their next five matches prior to opening Big West play against Long Beach State. The two matches at Hawai'i mark the beginning of eight straight Big West Conference matches for CSUN before the conference tournament gets underway Apr. 18.Â
PTASZYNSKI, RZEPNIEWSKI EACH ON A HITTING TEARÂ
Sophomore Maciej Ptaszynski and redshirt freshman Paul Rzepniewski have each turned in impressive offensive performances in recent weeks. Ptaszynski had 19 kills and a single hitting error on 29 swings in two CSUN wins last week and is now hitting .320 for the season. The sophomore from Gdansk, Poland, who hit a season-high .706 (13-1-17) at Cal Lutheran, hit .667 (11-1-15) in the win over Saint Francis before connecting at a .571 (8-0-14) clip against Lindenwood.
Rzepniewski had a slow start to his collegiate career, as he was hitting .103 through seven matches. After hitting .100 at Ball State on Jan. 19, the middle from Harwood Heights, Ill. is hitting .527 over his last 11 matches. Rzepniewski hit a perfect 1.000 with eight kills on eight error-less swings against Saint Francis.
WHERE THEY RANK
In addition to taking over as CSUN's all-time leader in career aces, Kalchev ranks fifth in CSUN's rally scoring era in kills (1,143) and is sixth in career attempts (2,371). He is now within 120 kills from entering the all-time career top-10. Fellow senior Sam Porter opens the last half of his collegiate career with 2,710 career assists which ranks sixth in CSUN's rally scoring era and is eighth all-time. Porter eclipsed 2,700 career assists after coming off the bench to record 12 assists at Long Beach State on Friday.Â
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
• CSUN is a perfect 7-0 against unranked teams this season while the Matadors are 3-8 against teams ranked in the AVCA Top-15.Â
• The Matadors a perfect 4-0 when hitting over .400 and are 9-1 when winning set three this season.
• With wins over Saint Francis and Lindenwood, CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell improved to 30-15 all-time against teams from the MIVA and 21-8 against teams from the EIVA.
• Senior libero Emmett Enriques eclipsed 300 digs in a Matador uniform after scooping up the sixth of his seven digs against Saint Francis on Friday.. Enriques comes into this week with a team-leading total of 126 digs this season which gives him 306 as a Matador.
LOOKING AHEAD
After two matches in Honolulu, CSUN has 13 days off until meeting UC Santa Barbara in Goleta on Mar. 29. The Matadors then host the Gauchos the next night in The Matadome. UC Irvine comes to CSUN on Apr. 5 in the Matadors' penultimate home match of the season.
#GoMatadors
