Matadors Drop Opener in Four Sets at Lindenwood

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The CSUN men's volleyball team dropped the opener of a two-match set Friday as the host Lindenwood Lions held off the Matadors in four sets in a non-conference match at Hyland Arena.

With the 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 27-25 victory, Lindenwood improves to 6-4 on the season while the Matadors drop to 2-8.

KEY STATISTICS
• Junior Maciej Ptaszynski and sophomore Daniel Wetter each had 10 kills to lead the Matadors. Wetter continued his season-long strong hitting, connecting at a .500 clip on 16 attacks to go with three blocks. Ptaszynski hit .231 on 26 swings while matching his career-high with four aces along with nine digs.
• Redshirt freshman Kyle Hobus added nine kills (-.040) and four digs along with a pair of aces.
• Sophomore setter Taylor Ittner posted 38 assists and six digs as the Matadors hit .198 (49-26-116) in the loss.
• The host Lions connected at a .357 clip as AJ Lewis led all hitters in the match with 16 kills (.519).

COACH JEFF CAMPBELL SAID
"We're just not stepping up at the end of sets which is a natural thing when you have a young team. Right now we've got to find a way to get over the hump. This is really the first time a good number of these guys have played a true road match but we'll come back tomorrow and be ready to go."

SET 1
After Wetter's kill gave CSUN a 20-19 lead late in the opening set, the Lions took advantage of some timely blocks and a pair of Matador hitting errors to roll off four straight points for a 23-20 lead. A Lindenwood service error cut the deficit to 23-21 before a Diego Negron kill set the Lions up wth set point at 24-21. Kills by Hobus and Griffin Walters saved a pair of set points before another Negron kill sent the Lions to the 25-23 win.

SET 2
With CSUN holding a 12-9 lead, the Matadors used a 4-2 run to extend the lead to 16-11 following one of two Hobus aces. CSUN still led by four at 19-15 when the hosts engineered a 3-1 run to pull within two at 20-18. A kill from Hobus followed by a Walters ace pushed the lead back to four at 22-18. A Paul Rzepniewski kill gave the Matadors a 23-20 lead when the Lions tallied three straight to knot the score at 23-23. But a Wetter kill followed by a Lindenwood hitting error gave CSUN the 25-23 win.

SET 3
The Lions jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the third set and never looked back. Lindenwood limited the Matadors to a -.120 hitting clip as they opened up a 16-6 lead. CSUN would get within six on a pair of occasions late in the set but could draw no closer, falling 25-17.

SET 4
CSUN trailed by as many as eight points in the final set before rallying in the latter stages. Down 22-15, the Matadors claimed seven straight points behind the serving of Ptaszynski to knot the score at 22-22. Three more ties ensued as CSUN fought off a pair of match points before the Lions used a Matador service error and a Negron kill to take a 27-25 win,

UP NEXT
The same two teams complete the two-match set Saturday with first serve at 5 p.m. PST (7 p.m. local time).

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Team Stats

Maciej Ptaszynski

Daniel Wetter

Kyle Hobus

Griffin Walters

Players Mentioned

Kyle Hobus

Taylor Ittner

Maciej Ptaszynski

Paul Rzepniewski

Griffin Walters

Daniel Wetter