Matadors Swept By No. 5 UCSB in Conference Home Opener

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Despite a team-high 14 kills from Kyle Hobus, the CSUN Matadors dropped their conference home opener as No. 5 UC Santa Barbara won in straight sets Friday night at The Matadome.

Set scores were 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 as the Gauchos take the season series from the Matadors while improving to 14-4 overall and 3-0 in the Big West. The loss drops CSUN to 5-6 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

KEY STATISTICS
• After leading the Matadors with nine kills on .438 hitting on Thursday in Santa Barbara, Hobus put down a season-high 14 kills on 25 swings (.360) to go with four digs and one block on Friday.
• Daniel Wetter added six kills for the second straight match, but was limited to a .273 hitting clip on 11 attacks after hitting .385 on Thursday. Olumide Allen added four kills (.667) but no other CSUN hitter had more than three kills.
• Setter Donovan Constable posted 32 assists to go with a season-high eight digs, two kills and one block.
• After out-hitting the Matadors .429 to .282 in Thursday's 3-0 win, the Gauchos hit .393 (43-10-84) on Friday to CSUN's .190 (35-19-84). UCSB also posted a sizable edge in blocks (10.5-2.0) and had four aces to the Matadors' two.
• Ryan Wilcox led all hitters for the second consecutive night with 18 kills, hitting .615 on 26 swings.

COACH JEFF CAMPBELL SAID
"Kyle had a great match and our passing was much improved from last night. Our serving was also better and I thought we improved on some of the other things we addressed after last night's match. We just need to be more consistent and continue to get better. We'll get ready for Pepperdine which is a high-level team that we can beat if we play well."

SET 1
Despite being out-hit .577 to .286 in the opening set, CSUN didn't trail by more than two points until late in the set. A kill from Hobus followed by a Gaucho hitting error gave the Matadors a two-point lead at 8-6. Consecutive kills from Wilcox tied for the score but CSUN still maintained a one-point edge at 14-13 when UCSB served out. But Hobus served out on the ensuing point before Griffin Walters' attack was stuffed by a Gaucho triple block giving the visitors a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. Another Wilcox kill out of the break gave UCSB a two-point lead and the Gauchos still led by two (19-17) when consecutive CSUN hitting errors extended the lead to 21-17. UCSB would lead by as many as five at 23-18 before closing the set by the same five-point margin (25-20).

SET 2
The Matadors surrendered six of the first eight points of set two and fell behind 12-5 following consecutive aces by Dayne Chalmers. CSUN got a co-block from Hobus and Jano Tello followed by kills from Tello and Wetter out of a timeout to get within five at 13-8. The Matadors were still within five at 14-9 when the visitors claimed three of the next four points to open up a 17-10 cushion. The UCSB lead grew to as many as nine before the Gauchos opened up a two-set lead following a 25-17 win.

SET 3
The final set proved to be the tightest of the match as the teams battled through 19 ties and five lead changes. Neither team led by more than one until a Hobus hitting error gave UCSB a 7-5 lead. A Gaucho hitting error put the Matadors back in front 10-9 and CSUN would still lead by one at 12-11 following a Hobus kill. UCSB quickly reclaimed the lead with two straight points before an Inaki Bustamante kill and a Gaucho hitting error gave CSUN its final lead of the night at 18-17. Two straight Gaucho kills forced a Matador timeout at 19-18 before a UCSB hitting error knotted the score at 19-19. Trailing 21-19, CSUN got three straight kills from Allen to tie the score for the final time at 22-22 when the Gauchos outscored the Matadors 3-1 down the stretch for the 25-23 win.

UP NEXT
The Matadors will take a quick break from Big West Conference play next week as they travel to Pepperdine on Mar. 16 before hosting the Waves on Mar. 18.

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Team Stats

Kyle Hobus

Daniel Wetter

Olumide Allen

Luke Krzmarzick

Players Mentioned

Olumide Allen

Inaki Bustamante

Donovan Constable

Kyle Hobus

Jano Tello

Griffin Walters

Daniel Wetter