California State University at Northridge
NJIT
CSUN Looks to Keep Perfect Home Record Intact vs. NJIT
3/2/2022 3:50:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATCH #9
NJIT Highlanders (8-4) @Â CSUN Matadors (5-3, 0-0 Big West)
Thursday, Mar. 3, 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 (5-3, 0-0 Big West), winners of two straight and four of its last six, closes out a three-match homestand Thursday against NJIT (8-4) at 7 p.m. The Matadors remained undefeated on their home floor (5-0) following a 3-1 win over No. 12 Stanford and a 3-0 win over Saint Katherine last week. Thursday'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
NJIT (8-4) has dropped two of its last three after a season-long seven-match winning streak from Jan. 23-Feb. 18. The Highlanders, also receiving votes (10) in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, dropped their first home match of the season last Saturday, falling to No. 4 Penn State in five sets. Junior opposite Julian Meissner leads NJIT averaging 3.19 kills per set. The Highlanders are hitting .302 as a team, the same as CSUN. Â
Series: Thursday's match is the fifth meeting all-time between the Matadors and Highlanders with CSUN unbeaten in four previous matches. The two teams last met in 2018 at the UCSB Asics Invitational with the Matadors claiming a 25-20, 25-15, 26-24 victory. CSUN has played NJIT twice at home in 2016 and 2007, winning in straight sets each time.
NVA/AVCAÂ TOP-15 NATIONAL COACHES POLL - WEEK 7Â (FEB. 28)
CSUN (5-3) earned six points and was the fifth team listed in the "receiving votes" section in this week's 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), seven points in week two (Jan. 17) and now six points in week eight (Feb. 28). 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 remained number one for the second straight week as the Bruins (10-2) earned 15 of 19 first-place votes and 281 points. Long Beach State (8-2) picked up the other four first-place votes to remain second this week followed in the top-five by Hawai'i (13-2), Penn State (12-3) and UC Santa Barbara (10-4). USC (11-3) slipped to sixth this week followed in the top-10 by Pepperdine (7-5), Grand Canyon (9-6), Ball State (11-2) and UC San Diego (7-6). The remainder of this week's top-15 includes Lewis (8-6), Stanford (8-3), BYU (5-7), Loyola-Chicago (8-5) and Ohio State (5-6).
CSUN SWEEPS BIG WEST WEEKLY AWARDSÂ
Kyle Hobus earned Big West Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week while Donovan Constable was named Freshman of the Week as CSUN swept the conference's weekly men's volleyball awards on Monday, Feb. 28.
Hobus was impressive in all facets of the game for the Matadors last week in wins over Saint Katherine (3-0) and No. 12 Stanford (3-1). In CSUN's 3-0 win over Saint Katherine, Hobus led all hitters in the match with 10 kills while hitting .474 on 19 swings. He also had four blocks, three digs and one ace as the Matadors swept the Firebirds 25-15, 25-20, 25-20. He then added a team-high 12 kills on .281 hitting as CSUN knocked off 12th-ranked Stanford in four sets on Saturday. In addition to his 12 kills, Hobus had an impressive all-around match in posting the second double-double of his career. He added a team-high 10 digs to go with a career-high four aces while completing the night with four blocks.
Constable was also instrumental in CSUN winning both home matches as he posted 63 assists, nine digs, four aces, seven blocks and three kills over seven sets. He led the Matadors to a team hitting clip of .311 in the two wins as CSUN knocked off a ranked team for the first time in 2022. Constable posted a season-high 38 assists in Saturday's four-set win over No. 12 Stanford while also serving three aces to go with six digs, four blocks and a pair of kills. The awards mark the first weekly honors for CSUN since Daniel Wetter was named Big West Player of the Week on Mar. 22, 2021.
MATADOR NOTES
After missing four matches with an injury, redshirt junior Daniel Wetter was back in the starting lineup for both matches last week. Wetter, who hit .308 in the season opener at UCLA and .643 against Cal Lutheran, hit .667 in his return vs. Saint Katherine before connecting at a .360 clip against Stanford. Wetter, who is now hitting .448 on the season, ranks second only to UCSB's Donovan Todorov who leads the Big West at .450 ... As a team, CSUN ranks second in the Big West in both opponent hitting percentage (.213) and service aces (1.73 per set) ... Saturday's 3-1 win over No. 12 Stanford gave CSUN its first win over a ranked opponent in 2022. The Matadors are now 1-3 against teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches Top-15 this season after falling at No. 2 UCLA (3-0) on Jan. 27, at No. 7 USC (3-0) on Feb. 10 and at No. 12 Stanford (3-0) on 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 329-337 and has been the most successful coach at CSUN over the past 17 years. Campbell has posted 278 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
Thursday's match against NJIT not only concludes a three-match but also marks CSUN's final pre-Big West Conference match as the Matadors open the 2022 Big West Conference season on Mar. 10 at UC Santa Barbara. The Matadors will have two non-conference matches remaining this season when they take on geographic rival Pepperdine in a home-and-home series Mar. 16-18. CSUN travels across the Valley to Malibu on Mar. 16 before the Waves return the visit on Mar. 18. Â
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