California State University at Northridge
Cal Lutheran
Matadors Open Home Schedule Friday vs. Cal Lutheran
1/12/2023 5:18:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK
MATCH #4:
Cal Lutheran Kingsmen (0-0) at CSUN Matadors (1-2)
Friday, Jan. 13, 2023Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After winning one of three matches at the UCSB Asics Invitational last week, the CSUN men's volleyball team (1-2, 0-0 Big West) opens the 2023 home season this Friday (Jan. 13) against Cal Lutheran. The Matadors, receiving votes in the NVA/AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll for the second straight week, host the Kingsmen at 7 p.m. after their original home opener on Thursday against Edward Waters was canceled. Friday's match opens a seven-match homestand for the Matadors who conclude the home stretch Feb. 3 against Stanford.
After opening the season with 3-0 losses to No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 USC, CSUN earned its first win - and Theo Edwards' first win as head coach - in straight sets over Lincoln Memorial.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
All Matador home matches this season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform with Darren Preston handling a majority of the play-by-play this season. 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.
MATADORS RECEIVING VOTESÂ IN NVA/AVCAÂ COACHES TOP-15 PRESEASON POLL
CSUN received six points and was the fourth team listed in the "Others Receiving Votes" section of the week two NVA/AVCA Men's Division I-II Coaches poll (Jan. 9). The Matadors, who received a season-high nine points in last week's preseason poll, were 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.
Hawai'i (0-0) is the top ranked team for the second straight poll, collecting 21 first-place votes and 329 total points. UCLA (3-0) is second with one first place vote and 308 total points followed in the top five by Long Beach State (0-0), Penn State (2-0) and Pepperdine (2-0). Ball State (0-0) is sixth this week, followed in the top-10 by UC Irvine (2-0), Stanford (2-0), Grand Canyon (2-0) and UC Santa Barbara (1-2). The remainder of the week two top-15 includes USC (2-1), Loyola-Chicago (0-0), BYU (2-0), Ohio State (1-1) and Lewis (0-2).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Cal Lutheran (0-0) opens its 2023 season in Northridge on Friday after taking on Hope International in an exhibition match on Tuesday. The Kingsmen, who finished 16-9 in 2022, are led by junior opposite Jake Tucker who averaged 2.40 kills per set last season. Sophomore setter Taylor Marks averaged 8.25 assists per set to go with 18 aces in 2018 while sophomore middle blocker Borys Horiuk added 1.42 kps on a .362 hitting clip. Kevin Judd is in his eighth season as head coach with former Matador All-American Chuck English serving as assistant coach.
CSUN IN HOME OPENERS
Heading into Friday's home opener against Cal Lutheran, the Matadors are an impressive 32-13 (.711) all-time in home openers dating back to 1977. After sweeping Cal Lutheran in its 2022 home opener, CSUN has now won two straight and 10 of its last 11 home openers dating back to the 2012 season. The only loss in that stretch came against Purdue Fort Wayne in 2020. CSUN dropped to 26-20 (.591) all-time in season openers after falling to No. 2 UCLA in Santa Barbara last week.
MATADOR DEBUTS AT ASICS INVITATIONAL
In addition to Theo Edwards earning his first career win as head coach, several CSUN players made their Matador debut at last week's UCSB Asics Invitational. Jackson Payne made his first career CSUN start in the opener against UCLA while both Cody Bowker and Nathan Merren each came off the bench to make his Matador debut. Bowker notched his first collegiate kill in the match before earning his first start against USC on Friday, putting down five kills along with three blocks. Merren did not record a kill in his debut but came back with six kills on .417 in the Matadors' 3-0 win over Lincoln Memorial. Redshirt freshman Lance Krenik made his first appearance for CSUN in almost a year as he handed out 10 assists in the final set against the Bruins. Freshman Malcolm King made his first collegiate appearance against USC and picked up his first collegiate kill in the third set.
SEVEN-MATCH HOMESTAND ON THE HORIZON
Friday's match against Cal Lutheran marks the opening of a seven-match homestand for the Matadors. Originally an eight-match homestand, the schedule was revised after Thursday's match against Edward Waters was canceled earlier in the week. The seven-match homestand, which concludes against Stanford on Feb. 3, is the longest since 2012 when the Matadors finished 5-4 on a nine-match homestand from Feb, 29-Mar. 24. The program record for consecutive home matches is 11 straight from Feb. 4-Mar. 17, 2004 when the Matadors finished 8-3. CSUN also had a seven-match homestand in 2009 (finished 7-1) and a trio of six-match homestands in 1980, 2003 and 2020.
CSUN QUICK SETS Â
In CSUN's 22nd appearance in UC Santa Barbara's annual tournament, the Matadors finished 1-2 for the second time in the last three seasons. CSUN was scheduled to open the 2022 season against Saint Xavier in Santa Barbara but due to COVID protocols within the program, the Matadors were forced to withdraw which snapped a streak of 16 consecutive appearances. CSUN's most recent appearance in the tournament was 2020, when the Matadors also finished 1-2 with a win over Benedictine Mesa and losses to McKendree and Concordia-Irvine. All-time, the Matadors are now 52-35 (.597) in UC Santa Barbara's tournament ... Edwards finalized his 2023 coaching staff by bringing back former student-athlete and coach Ryan Mason. Mason, who began his collegiate coaching career as second assistant on Jeff Campbell's staff in 2018, helped guide the Matadors to a 16-11 record in 2018 while earning their first Big West Tournament win, knocking off UC Santa Barbara in five sets. As a CSUN student-athlete, Mason was a part of the CSUN men's volleyball program as a setter from 2010-15. He redshirted his freshman season in 2012 before appearing in four matches and six sets in 2013, primarily as a serving specialist, and recorded a pair of digs. Mason had one dig against BYU and one at UC Irvine as the Matadors finished 11-13 overall and 9-13 in the MPSF in 2013. A native of Torrance, Calif., Mason earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from CSUN in 2015 and received a master's of coaching and athletic administration from Concordia-Irvine in 2019.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
2023 marks CSUN's sixth season as a member of the Big West in men's volleyball. Since the conference's inaugural season in 2018, the Matadors are 12-38 (.240) in 50 Big West matches over their first five seasons. CSUN finished 5-5 in the inaugural Big West season in 2018 before finishing 3-7 in 2019, 2-8 in 2021 and 1-9 in 2022. 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 the 2019, 2021 and 2022 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.
THEO EDWARDS NAMED CSUN'S MEN'S VOLLEYBALL COACH
Theo Edwards, CSUN's associate head coach since 2019, was named the successor to Jeff Campbell on Dec. 9, 2022. Edwards completed his 12th season on Campbell's coaching staff in 2022. He was promoted to associate head coach in August 2019 and served as the program's recruiting coordinator. He has been instrumental in CSUN's top recruiting classes over the last several years as the Matadors have brought in a host of AVCA Top 50 high school players. As a four-year letterwinner for the Matadors, Edwards had his finest season as a senior in 2010 as the Matadors reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals. He was the team captain of the squad that became just the second CSUN team, and first since 1993, to reach the NCAA Tournament.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Friday's home opener, the Matadors will host The Master's University and Menlo College next week (Jan. 18, Jan. 20) before closing the opening month of the season against USC (Jan. 25) and UCLA (Jan. 27) in rematches from last week in Santa Barbara.
#UniteTheValley
