California State University at Northridge
UC Merced
Matadors Back Home Friday to Host UC Merced
2/12/2020 2:53:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
MATCH #12
UC Merced Bobcats (6-6) at CSUN Matadors (2-9)
Friday, Feb. 14, 2020Â - 4:00Â p.m. PT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Watch
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN men's volleyball team (2-9) is back home this week to open up a three-match homestand against UC Merced (6-6) Friday in a rare 4 p.m. start. The Matadors will also welcome Vanguard (Feb. 21) and No. 8 UCLA (Feb. 28) to Northridge over the next two weeks. CSUN made its first-ever trip to Lindenwood last week, coming up empty on Friday (3-1) and Saturday (3-2).
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 REPORT
UC Merced (6-6) dropped a home match to Ottawa University in four sets last Friday and is now 3-5 over its last eight matches. The Bobcats, 2-2 in road matches this season, are led by freshman OPP Chris Morikawa who has 126 kills while averaging 3.00 kills per set. Sophomore OH Trevor Jurlina adds 2.47 kps for UC Merced which is hitting .261 as a team through 12 matches.
Series: Friday's match is the fourth all-time between the Matadors and Bobcats with CSUN claiming the three previous meetings, 3-0 in 2017 and 2018 and 3-1 last season. All three previous matches have been played in The Matadome.
WETTER CONTINUES TO LEADÂ NATION IN HITTING
After hitting .526 (25-6-36) in a pair of matches at Lindenwood last week, redshirt sophomore Daniel Wetter continues to hold the national lead in hitting percentage this week at .542. Wetter, who put down a career-high 15 kills in Saturday's five-set loss, has 120 kills and just 17 errors on 190 swings this season. The sophomore middle has hit better than .357 in 10 of CSUN's 11 matches this season. A career .453 hitter, Wetter would rank second only to Jacek Ratajczak (.457) in CSUN's men's volleyball history.
ITTNER CLIMBS CAREER ASSISTS LIST
With 83 assists in two matches at Lindenwood last week, sophomore setter Taylor Ittner upped his career assists total to 1,434. Last week, Ittner moved past Jeff Conover (2004-05) into seventh-place on CSUN's Rally Scoring era assists list and now has a team-high 442 assists this season. Ittner, who recorded 992 assists during his freshman season in 2019, now sets his sights on Sam Porter who is currently sixth in Rally Scoring and eighth all-time with 2,711 career assists.
PTASZYNSKI REACHES 300 CAREER DIGS
With 20 digs in two matches at Lindenwood and 66 digs this season, junior Maciej Ptaszynski moved past 300 digs in his Matador career. Ptaszynski, who ranks second in digs this season to Ittner (72), is averaging a career-best 1.47 digs per set through 11 matches. He scooped up a career-high 14 digs against Concordia-Irvine in January and also had double figures in digs with 11 last Saturday at Lindenwood.
MATADORS AT HOME Â
After averaging nearly eight home wins per season since 2012, CSUN is off to a slow start in The Matadome this season. The Matadors' 3-0 loss to No. 13 Princeton on Feb. 1 dropped CSUN to 1-5 on its home court this season. The Matadors finished 2-11 on The Matadome floor in 1999 and were 4-9 as recently as 2011. All-time, CSUN is a more-than-respectable 324-220 at home with a winning percentage of .596.
CSUN IN THE NATIONAL STATS
As a team, the Matadors continue to rank in the top-15 in the national stats in a trio of categories. This week, CSUN ranks 13th in assists per set (11.53), kills per set (12.40) and team attacks per set (27.6). The Matadors are also currently 19th in hitting percentage (.278), 23rd in aces per set (1.33), 26th in blocks per set (1.94) and 31st in digs per set (8.13).
Individually, Wetter not only ranks first in hitting but is also 34th in blocks (0.89), 56th in points per set (3.36) and 70th in kills per set (2.67). Sophomore setter Taylor Ittner ranks ninth in assists per set (10.07) and is also 63rd in digs per set (1.64). Freshman Kyle Hobus ranks 33rd in attacks per set (7.61), 40th in kills per set (3.07), 44th in points per set (3.66) and 87th in aces per set (0.24). Junior Maciej Ptaszynski is currently 20th in aces per set (0.44), 43rd in hitting percentage (.293), 48th in points per set (3.52), 67th in kills per set (2.71), 79th in attacks per set (6.07), 85th in blocks per set (0.64) and 91st in digs per set (1.47).
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 320-321 (.499) 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
/// CSUN's 34 team digs Friday at Lindenwood was a season-high for a four-set match. The Matadors also matched their four-set high with eight aces against the Lions, equaling the eight aces against Menlo on Jan. 24.
/// With the debut of freshman setter James McMillan against Princeton on Feb. 1, the Matadors have now suited up 17 players this season. After picking up his first collegiate assist against the Tigers, McMillan also saw a set of action at Lindenwood. He now has eight assists and one dig this season.Â
/// After connecting for a career-high 15 kills Saturday at Lindenwood, Wetter has now been CSUN's kill leader in four of the past six matches.
LOOKING AHEAD
After Friday's single match match against UC Merced, CSUN concludes the homestand against Vanguard (Feb. 14) and UCLA (Feb. 28) before wrapping up the pre-Big West schedule at UCLA on Mar. 5. The Matadors open their third Big West season Mar. 13 against top-ranked Hawai'i.Â
#UniteTheValley
