California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Saint Francis (Pa.)
No. 12 Matadors Host Saint Francis, Lindenwood
3/7/2019 1:47:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK
MATCH #17:
Saint Francis Red Flash (11-6) @ No. 12 CSUN Matadors (8-8)
Friday, Mar. 8, 2019Â - 7:00 p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
MATCH #18:
Lindenwood Lions (7-11) @ No. 12 CSUN Matadors (8-8)
Saturday, Mar. 9, 2019Â - 7:30 p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The 12th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team (8-8, 0-2 Big West) takes a quick break in the conference schedule this week as the Matadors host Saint Francis and Lindenwood in their final non-conference matches of the regular season. CSUN hosts the Red Flash for the first time Friday at 7 p.m. followed by the first-ever visit by Lindenwood to The Matadome Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Matadors opened Big West Conference play last week with a pair of 3-0 losses to top-ranked Long Beach State.
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 SLIP TO 12TH IN AVCAÂ TOP-15 COACHES POLL
After dropping a pair of matches to top-ranked Long Beach State last week, CSUN slipped one spot to 12th in this week's AVCA Div. I Coaches Top-15 Poll released Mar. 4. CSUN earned 61 points this week, down 20 points from the week eight poll (Feb. 25). 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 56 consecutive weeks and 256 of the last 282 weekly polls dating back to the 2002 season.
Long Beach State (15-0) received all 16 first place votes this week and are the nation's top-ranked team for the 10th straight poll this season. Hawai'i (12-0) remained second this week followed in the top five by UC Irvine (13-4), UC Santa Barbara (14-3) and UCLA (14-4). Pepperdine (11-4) is sixth this week followed in the top 10 by Lewis (14-4), Stanford (12-6), Loyola-Chicago (13-4) and BYU (8-5). USC (9-7) is 11th this week followed by the Matadors (8-8), Purdue Fort Wayne (10-7) and George Mason (12-4) while Ball State (9-8) rounds out this week's top-15.
SCOUTING REPORTS
Saint Francis: The Red Flash (11-6) have won four straight matches after sweeping NJIT and topping Princeton 3-1 at home last weekend. Saint Francis, which travels to No. 1 Long Beach State Saturday, is 4-1 on the road this season. Junior OH Michael Fisher averages 4.85 kills per set on .335 hitting to lead the Red Flash who are hitting .258 as a team through 17 matches. Head coach Mike Rumbaugh is his 21st season at Saint Francis and sports a 250-205 career record.
Lindenwood: The Lions (7-11) dropped straight set matches at No. 12 Purdue Fort Wayne and at No. 15 Ball State last week which snapped a three-match Lindenwood winning streak. The Lions, who play at No. 4 UC Santa Barbara Friday night, are 2-4 on the road this season. Sophomore OPP Charley Hlavin averages a team-high 2.78 kills per set while Nick Stevenson and Phil Swartz each add 2.26 kps. Lindenwood is hitting .224 as a team after 18 matches. Head coach Joe Kosciw is his second season at Lindenwood and owns a 26-23 career record.
SERIES STORIES
Friday's match is the third meeting all-time between CSUN and Saint Francis with the Matadors leading 2-0 in the series. Both previous matches between the two teams (2015, 2018) have come at the UCSB Asics Invitational.
Saturday's match is the second all-time between CSUN and Lindenwood. The Matadors and Lions met at the same UCSB Asics Invitational in 2016 with the Matadors winning in straight sets behind eight kills from then-freshman Dimitar Kalchev.
ACES TELL THE STORYÂ Â
The Matadors, who rank sixth in the nation this week in aces per set at 1.70, have lived and died from the service line this season. CSUN has had the statistical advantage in aces in eight matches this season and is 7-1 in those matches. When the Matadors get out-aced, they are winless in seven matches. For the season, CSUN has 107 aces to 79 for its opponents but have 12 fewer aces in its eight losses (49-37) and 40 more aces in eight wins (70-30).
KALCHEV TIES FOR SECOND INÂ CAREER ACES
With one ace against Long Beach State on Saturday, senior outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev moved into a tie for second place in career aces at CSUN. Kalchev now has 181 in his Matador career which ties him with Eric Vance, two behind CSUN career leader Eckhard Walter (183). Kalchev reached 181 career aces in 350 matches while Vance reached 181 in 421 career matches. 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.
WHERE THEY RANK
In addition to his current ranking (2nd) in career aces, Kalchev ranks fifth in CSUN's rally scoring era in kills (1,121) and is sixth in career attempts (2,325). He is now within 132 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
FINAL NON-CONFERENCE MATCHES IN 2019
The two matches this weekend against Saint Francis and Lindenwood mark the final two non-conference matches for CSUN in the 2019 regular season. The Matadors are currently 8-6 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 last week.Â
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
• CSUN slipped to 19-23 (.463) all-time in conference openers after falling 3-0 at Long Beach State on Friday. Saturday's loss to the Beach in The Matadome dropped the Matadors to 25-17 (.610) in conference home openers.
• CSUN finished 5-5 in 10 matches in January before finishing 3-1 in just four matches during the month of February.
• The Matadors were not swept over their first seven matches of the season but after a pair of 3-0 losses to Long Beach State, CSUN has been swept four times over its last nine matches.
• Senior libero Emmett Enriques is closing in on 300 digs in his CSUN career. Enriques comes into this week with a team-leading total of 114 digs this season which gives him 294 as a Matador.Â
• The Matadors' eight losses this season have all come to teams ranked in the AVCA Top-15.
LOOKING AHEAD
CSUN then resumes Big West play Mar. 15-16 with two matches in Hawai'i against the Rainbow Warriors. The two matches in Honolulu opens a stretch of eight straight conference matches through the end of the regular season on Apr. 13. The Matadors will return to the Stan Sheriff Center for the second Big West Men's Volleyball Tournament Apr. 18-20.
#GoMatadors
