California State University at Northridge
University of Saint Katherine
CSUN Opens Three-Match Homestand Wednesday vs. Saint Katherine
2/23/2022 9:19:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MATCH #7
Saint Katherine Firebirds (1-8) at CSUN Matadors (3-3)
Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022Â - 2:00Â p.m. PST
The Matadome - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #8
No. 12 Stanford Cardinal (8-3) at CSUN Matadors (3-3)
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022Â - 7:00Â p.m. PST
The Matadome - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Men's Volleyball team (3-3, 0-0 Big West) opens up a three-match homestand Wednesday as the Matadors host Saint Katherine (1-8) for the first time. The homestand continues Saturday at 7 p.m. as CSUN welcomes No. 12 Stanford before the homestand concludes next week (Mar. 3) against NJIT. CSUN's match against NJIT marks the final pre-Big West test for the Matadors who open conference play at UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 10.Â
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
All CSUN home matches will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform with Darren Preston handling the play-by-play. Fans can also follow CSUN Matador men's volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com for related links to the match, including for any live stats, audio and video. 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 THE OPPOSITION
Saint Katherine (1-8) snapped a season opening eight-match losing streak with a 3-1 victory over Pacific Union College on Sunday. Behind 16 kills from senior Troy Jackson, the Firebirds rallied the take the final three sets to pick up their first win of the season. Jackson leads Saint Katherine averaging 2.18 kills per set while the Firebirds are hitting .099 as a team through nine matches.
Series: Wednesday's match is the first-ever meeting between the Matadors and Firebirds who began their men's volleyball program in 2018.
Stanford (8-3) travels to No. 2 Long Beach State before facing the Matadors for the second time in nine days on Saturday. The 12th-ranked Cardinal swept CSUN 25-17, 25-13, 26-24 on Friday (Feb. 18) behind 17 kills from Will Rottman. The Cardinal out-hit the Matadors .480 to .189 in the win. Stanford is 0-2 on the road this season after dropping matches at UC Irvine (Jan. 14) and UC San Diego (Jan. 15).
Series: Saturday's match is the 75th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Cardinal with Stanford holding a 44-30 edge in the series. The Cardinal swept CSUN last week at Maples Pavilion (25-17, 25-13, 26-24) snapping the Matadors' three-match winning streak over Stanford which dated back to 2017.
NVA/AVCAÂ TOP-15 NATIONAL COACHES POLL - WEEK 7Â (FEB. 21)
After receiving votes in the first three national polls of the 2022 season, CSUN (3-3) did not receive any votes this week in the NVA/AVCA Top-15 (Feb. 21). The Matadors received a season-high 12 points in the preseason poll before receiving nine points in week one (Jan. 10) and seven points in week two (Jan. 17). CSUN was last ranked among the top-15 on Jan. 13, 2020 when the Matadors were 13th in the 2020 preseason coaches poll. Prior to that, CSUN had been ranked in the AVCA Top-15 for 62 consecutive weeks and 262 of the last 289 weekly polls dating back to the 2002 season.
UCLA became the third team this season to claim the number one ranking as the Bruins (8-2) earned 12 of 19 first-place votes and 278 points. Long Beach State (7-2) picked up the other seven first-place votes but slipped to second this week followed in the top-five by Hawai'i (13-2), Penn State (10-3) and USC (10-2). UC Santa Barbara (9-4) remained sixth this week followed in the top-10 by Pepperdine (6-4), Ball State (9-2), Pepperdine (6-4), Grand Canyon (7-6) and Lewis (8-4). The remainder of this week's top-15 includes UC San Diego (7-5), Stanford (8-3), BYU (5-7), Loyola-Chicago (8-5) and Ohio State (5-6).
CSUN LOOKS TO GET HITTING BACK ON TRACKÂ
After hitting .304 in the season-opener at second-ranked UCLA, the Matadors continued to trend upwards in hitting over the next two weeks. CSUN hit a season-high .455 in a 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran, .361 in a 3-1 win over UC Merced and .433 in a 3-0 win over Vanguard. CSUN then connected for a season-low .120 hitting clip at No. 7 USC before hitting .189 in a 3-0 loss at No. 12 Stanford last Friday.
For the season, the Matadors are now hitting .299 as a team as freshman Olumide Allen continues to lead all CSUN hitters with a .486 hitting percentage. Allen had just three hitting errors in his first five matches before committing four on five attacks against Stanford. Despite missing the last four matches, redshirt junior Daniel Wetter remains at .481 for the season with just three hitting errors on 27 swings. Redshirt sophomore Jano Tello also continues to be a bright spot in Wetter's absence, hitting .444 on the season with five errors on 27 attacks.
MATADOR NOTES
Junior libero Taylan Cook, who ranks third on the team with 19 digs, notched a season-high five digs at Stanford. With 19 digs on the season, Cook currently ranks behind only Griffin Walters (26) and Donovan Constable (24) ... Walters has continued his impressive start to the season as he ranks in the top-15 in the Big West in five statistical categories this week. He currently ranks third in aces per set (0.53), seventh in hitting percentage (.328), 10th in points per set (3.61), 11th in kills per set (2.89) and 14th in digs per set (1.37) ... Junior Inaki Bustamante picked up his first multi-kill effort of the season at Stanford. Bustamante, who transferred to CSUN from Lewis, notched a pair of kills Friday after posting his first CSUN kill against UC Merced on Feb. 4. Bustamante had one kill for the Flyers during the 2021 season after posting a career-high five kills against Urbana during the 2020 season ... Saturday's match against 12th-ranked Stanford marks CSUN's fourth match this season against a ranked opponent. The Matadors fell in their delayed season-opener at No. 2 UCLA on Jan. 27 before dropping 3-0 decisions at No. 7 USC (Feb. 10) and at No. 12 Stanford (Feb. 18). Last season, the Matadors played 11 straight opponents that were ranked in the NVA/AVCA Top-15 National Coaches Poll. Beginning the season with 12th-ranked UC Irvine, the Matadors faced No. 3 UC Santa Barbara, No. 13 UC San Diego, No. 1 Hawai'i and No. 7 Long Beach State in succession. CSUN capped the season with a 3-1 loss to No. 13 UCSD in the first round of the Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship in Hawai'i.
CAMPBELL PICKS UP 325TH CAREER WIN
CSUN's 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran on Jan. 28 was the 325th career win for CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. In his 25th season at the helm of the program, Campbell now boasts a career record of 326-337 and has been the most successful coach at CSUN over the past 17 years. Campbell has posted 276 wins (nearly 14 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 heads into his 25th season as the all-time winningest coach in CSUN men's volleyball history with 326 career victories.Â
Campbell become the program's all-time winningest coach during the 2010 season, reaching the 150, 200, 225 and 250 career win milestones over the last 10 seasons. Currently, the second-longest tenured head coach at CSUN (men's golf coach Jim Bracken is in his 36th 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.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
The 2022 season marks CSUN's fifth as a member of the Big West Conference in men's volleyball. The Matadors will bring are a record of 10-20 (.333) into their Big West opener Mar. 10 at UC Santa Barbara. CSUN finished 5-5 in the inaugural Big West season in 2018 before finishing 3-7 in 2019 and 2-8 in 2021. The 2020 conference season was not contested due to COVID-19. The Matadors reached the semifinals of the Big West Tournament in 2018 in Long Beach before falling in both the 2019 and 2021 quarterfinals in Hawai'i. Prior to 2018, CSUN played 25 seasons as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) from 1993-2017 and 16 seasons in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (WIVA) from 1977-92.
LOOKING AHEAD
Wednesday's match against Saint Katherine not only opens up a three-match homestand but concludes the pre-Big West portion of the 2022 schedule. CSUN's rematch with Stanford on Saturday will be followed by a visit by NJIT which concludes the homestand on Mar. 3. The Matadors, who will still have a home-and-home non-conference series with Pepperdine (Mar. 16-18), open the 2022 Big West Conference season on Mar. 10 at UC Santa Barbara.  Â
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