California State University at Northridge
UCLA
Matadors Renew Rivalry With No. 12 UCLA on Friday
2/26/2020 5:44:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
MATCH #14
No. 12 UCLA Bruins (7-7) at CSUN Matadors (4-9)
Friday, Feb. 28, 2020Â - 7:00Â 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 (4-9) looks to complete an unbeaten homestand Friday night as the Matadors welcome a familiar foe to The Matadome in the No. 12 UCLA Bruins (7-7). CSUN, winners of a season-best two-straight matches, takes on the Bruins Friday with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. The Matadors then return the favor by traveling to Westwood to take on UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Mar. 5.
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
UCLA (7-7) is ranked 12th in this week's AVCA National Top-15 poll. The Bruins have split their last four matches after falling to No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (3-0) and No. 13 Grand Canyon last week. Prior to that, UCLA won at Concordia (3-1) and defeated USC (3-1) at home. Freshman Cole Ketrzynski leads the Bruins with 144 kills this season while averaging 3.20 kills per set. Senior Daenan Gyimah adds 2.81 kps on .481 hitting for UCLA which is 5-5 on the road this season. As a team, the Bruins are hitting .318 through 14 matches, which ranks sixth in the NCAA.
Series: Friday's match is the 87th meeting all-time between the Matadors and UCLA with the Bruins holding a commanding 70-15 lead in the series. CSUN has won two of the last three matches between the two teams including a straight-set win in The Matadome last season. The Matadors are 6-30 all-time against the Bruins in The Matadome. CSUN and UCLA have two common opponents this season in Princeton and Concordia-Irvine. The Matadors are 0-2 against those two squads while the Bruins are 2-1.
WETTER MAINTAINS NCAA HITTING LEAD
After hitting .524 with nine kills and two errors on 15 swings against Vanguard last Friday, redshirt sophomore Daniel Wetter maintained his national lead in hitting percentage at .545. Wetter now has 142 kills and just 21 errors on 222 attacks this season. Wetter put down a career-high 15 kills in a five-set loss at Lindenwood on Feb. 8. The sophomore middle has hit better than .357 in 12 of CSUN's 13 matches this season. A career .459 hitter, Wetter would take over as CSUN's career hitting percentage leader if the season ended today. Wetter is currently two percentage points ahead of former Matador All-American Jacek Ratajczak, who hit .457 from 2007-10.
PTASZYNSKI TAKES OVER BIG WEST ACES LEAD
With three aces against Vanguard last Friday and 11 aces over his last four matches, junior Maciej Ptaszynski took over the Big West lead averaging 0.51 aces per set. With 26 aces in 51 sets this season, Ptaszynski leads UC San Diego's Wyatt Harrison by five aces and UC Santa Barbara's Randy DeWeese by six. Teammate Griffin Walters is tied for third this week in aces per set at 0.44 after serving 12 aces in just 27 sets. Ptaszynski, who surpassed 300 career digs earlier this season, surpassed 500 career kills with 13 against Vanguard on Friday. The junior from Gdansk, Poland now has 503 kills, 310 digs and 74 aces in his Matador career.
WALTERS NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK Â
Freshman Griffin Walters became the second CSUN men's volleyball player to earn Big West Freshman of the Week honors this season when the conference announced its weekly awards on Monday, Feb. 24. Walters was instrumental in the Matadors' 3-0 sweep over Vanguard University last week, CSUN's second consecutive win. He joins redshirt freshman Kyle Hobus who earned conference Freshman of the Week honors on Jan. 13. The 6-foot-6 outside hitter from Sacramento posted a season-high 16 kills, five digs and two block assists in a sweep over the Lions. Walters hit .387 on 31 swings and accounted for a team-best 17 points in the win.
CSUN IN THE NATIONAL STATS
As a team, the Matadors moved into the national top-10 in a pair of statistical categories this week. CSUN ranks 10th in assists per set (11.84) and kills per set (12.82) after 13 matches. The Matadors are also in the top-15 in both hitting percentage (.296, 13th) and aces per set (1.55, 15th). CSUN also ranks 32nd in blocks per set (1.84), 34th in digs per set (8.20) and 38th in opponent hitting percentage (.295).
Individually, Wetter not only ranks first in hitting but is also 41st in blocks (0.86), 56th in points per set (3.45) and 62nd in kills per set (2.78). Taylor Ittner ranks ninth in assists per set (10.07) and is also 58th in digs per set (1.64). Ptaszynski is in the top-20 in aces per set this week, ranking 12th at 0.51. Ptaszynski is also 43rd in hitting percentage (.293), 44th in points per set (3.62), 64th in kills per set (2767), 95th in digs per set (1.45) and 100th in blocks per set (0.59). Freshman Kyle Hobus ranks 40th in kills per set (3.07), 41st in points per set (3.66) and 83rd in aces per set (0.24).
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 322-321 (.501) 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
/// Sophomore Luke Krzmarzick has put together two solid matches in CSUN's last two wins. Krzmarzick has 18 kills in the two Matador victories while hitting .333 on 42 swings. He also has a pair of aces, a pair of blocks and nine digs while accounting for 21 points over the two-match stretch.
/// Freshman setter James McMillan has also had two impressive starts in wins over UC Merced and Vanguard. McMillan led the Matador hitters to a season-high .429 team hitting clip against Merced and CSUN then hit .410 against Vanguard.
/// CSUN's 52 kills against Vanguard was the second-most in the Big West this season for a three-set match. The Matadors also have three of the top four team hitting performances this season; .778 vs. Cal Lutheran, .737 vs. Menlo and .647 vs. UC Merced.
LOOKING AHEAD
After Friday's single match against UCLA, the Matadors will complete the home-and-home series with UCLA on Mar. 5 in Westwood before turning their attention to the 2020 Big West season. CSUN opens conference play with a pair of home matches against top-ranked Hawai'i on Mar. 13-14.
#UniteTheValley
