California State University at Northridge
USC
CSUN Caps Homestand vs. USC, No. 13 Princeton
1/29/2020 11:26:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
MATCH #8
USC Trojans (1-6) vs. CSUN Matadors (2-5)
Friday, Jan. 31, 2020Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Big West TV
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
MATCH #9
No. 13 Princeton Tigers (2-4) vs. CSUN Matadors (2-5)
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 - 7:30 p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Big West TV
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN men's volleyball team (2-5) wraps up a season-long, six-match homestand this week as the Matadors host the USC Trojans (1-6) on Friday and the No. 13 Princeton Tigers (2-3) on Saturday. Friday's match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. first serve while Saturday's match against Princeton gets underway at 7:30 p.m. CSUN is 1-3 on the current homestand after splitting matches against Menlo College and Cal Lutheran last week.Â
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All regular-season home matches will feature live stats and will be streamed live by the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health via Big West TV 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.
SCOUTING REPORTS
USC (1-6) has dropped six straight matches after opening the season with a 3-2 win over Princeton on Jan. 2. The Trojans are coming off losses to No. 10 Penn State (3-2) and Ohio State (3-0) last week in State College, Pa. Sophomore OH Billy Fauntleroy averages a team-high 2.94 kills per set to pace USC. As a team, the Trojans are hitting .253 through seven matches.
Series: Friday's match is the 79th all-time between the Matadors and Trojans with USC holding a 45-33 edge in the series. The two teams last met in 2017 with the Trojans winning in five sets in Northridge. The Matadors did not lose to the Trojans from March of 2004 through January of 2011, a span of 17 straight CSUN wins.
Princeton (2-4), ranked 13th in this week's AVCA Top-15 Coaches Poll, dropped to 2-4 after falling in four sets to No. 15 UC San Diego on Tuesday. The Tigers travel to No. 8 UCLA on Thursday before wrapping up their three-match road trip at CSUN on Saturday. Senior George Huhmann, the current EIVA Player of the Week, leads Princeton with 66 kills (2.87 kps) and 13 aces. The Tigers are hitting .241 as a team through six matches.
Series: Saturday's match is the fourth all-time between the Matadors and Princeton with CSUN winning two of the previous three matches. The Matadors are 1-0 against the Tigers in The Matadome, winning in five sets last season.
WETTER CONTINUES TO LEADÂ NATION IN HITTING
After hitting .778 in matches against Menlo and Cal Lutheran last week, redshirt sophomore Daniel Wetter upped his national lead in hitting percentage this week. Wetter is now hitting .629 on the season with 80 kills and just seven errors on 116 swings. Wetter is now hitting 120 percentage points higher than Lewis' TJ Murray who ranks second at .482.
The sophomore middle has not hit less than .500 in any of CSUN's seven matches this season and hit a season-high .824 (14-0-17) against Cal Lutheran on Saturday. In three matches against the Kingsmen over the last two seasons, Wetter is hitting .823 with 28 kills and no errors on 34 swings.
SEASON-HIGHS VS. CAL LUTHERAN
After hitting .351 in a 3-2 loss to Ball State on Jan. 17, the Matadors upped their hitting to a season-high .353 (42-12-85) in Saturday's win over Cal Lutheran. CSUN has now hit .300 or better four times in seven matches this season. Behind a career-high four aces from Maciej Ptaszynski and three each from Wetter and Griffin Walters, the Matadors served a season-high 13 aces against the Kingsmen. CSUN's total ties for sixth in program history for a single match. The all-time record was set by the 2009 Matadors who served 17 aces in a straight-set win over Pacific on Feb. 19, 2009. CSUN also served 15 aces against Cal Lutheran in 2018.
POND, WALTER IN THE STARTING LINEUP Â
After using the same starting lineup for four consecutive matches, Jeff Campbell made a pair of changes last week. Campbell inserted redshirt freshman Greg Pond and true freshman Griffin Walters into the starting lineup. Pond, who made his first start against Menlo, had three kills on three swings to go with three blocks in his debut. Walters also made his debut against the Oaks, putting down 10 kills on 21 attacks to hit .381. Walters then made his first CSUN start against Cal Lutheran and posted five kills (.250), five digs and three aces in the 3-0 Matador win.
CSUN IN THE NATIONAL STATS
As a team, the Matadors rank in the top-10 in the national stats in a pair of categories this week. CSUN ranks eighth in both assists per set (11.96) and kills per set (12.86). The Matadors are also currently 13th in hitting percentage (.302), 23rd in blocks per set (2.07) and aces per set (1.36), 24th in digs per set (8.61) and 35th in opponent hitting percentage (.265).Â
Individually, Wetter not only ranks first in hitting but is also 60th in blocks. Sophomore setter Taylor Ittner ranks seventh in assists per set (10.36) and is also 45th in digs per set (1.82). Kyle Hobus ranks 14th in attacks per set (8.41), 20th in kills per set (3.48) and 23rd in points per set (4.02). Junior Maciej Ptaszynski is 17th in aces per set (0.50), 43rd in points per set (3.50), 50th in hitting percentage (.287) and 77th in blocks per set (0.68).
CAMPBELL IN HIS 23RD SEASON AS HEAD COACH
In terms of wins and losses, Jeff Campbell has been the most successful coach at CSUN over the past 17 years. Campbell has posted 267 wins (nearly 16 wins per season) since the 2003 season which is quite an accomplishment considering the Matadors have annually played in the toughest men's volleyball conference in the country. He has a career record of 320-317 (.504) and is the all-time winningest coach in CSUN men's volleyball history. Having become the program's all-time winningest coach during the 2010 season, Campbell reached the 150, 200, 225 and 250 career milestone wins over the last 10 seasons. Currently, the second-longest tenured head coach at CSUN (men's golf coach Jim Bracken is in his 32nd season) Campbell has earned double figure win totals in 20 of his 22 seasons on the bench, posting a career-best 24 wins in 2009.
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
/// Ittner connected for a career-high six kills in an impressive all-around performance against Cal Lutheran. The redshirt sophomore setter recorded 35 assists, hit .455 on 11 attacks to go with seven digs and one ace.
/// CSUN has had 16 different players suit up for a match so far in 2020, the most for a Matador team since 2014. In addition to Walters, last week also saw the CSUN debut for redshirt freshman Ryan Damm who played one set against Menlo College. The Matadors had 11 players suit up for the team in 2017, the fewest in the last seven seasons.
LOOKING AHEAD
After concluding their six-match homestand this week, the Matadors travel to St. Charles, Mo. for a pair of matches at Lindenwood next week (Feb. 7-8). CSUN returns to The Matadome on Feb. 14 to begin a three-match homestand against UC Merced.Â
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