California State University at Northridge
USC
Matadors Host a Pair of Top-10 Teams in USC, UCLA This Week
1/24/2023 6:31:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK
MATCH #7:
No. 10 USC Trojans (5-2) at CSUN Matadors (4-2)
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #8:
No. 2 UCLA Bruins (6-0) at CSUN Matadors (4-2)
Friday, Jan. 27, 2023Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN men's volleyball team (4-2, 0-0 Big West) continues its seven-match homestand this week, welcoming No. 10 USC (5-2) and No. 2 UCLA to Premier America Credit Union Arena. The Matadors, a perfect 3-0 on the current homestand, host the Trojans Wednesday at 7 p.m. before taking on the Bruins Friday at 7 p.m.
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.
NVA/AVCAÂ TOP-15 NATIONAL COACHES POLL - JAN. 23
After receiving votes in the first two polls of the 2023 season, CSUN (4-2) returned to the "Others Receiving Votes" section this week, picking up five points in the Jan. 23 NVA/AVCA Men's Division I-II Coaches poll. The Matadors, who received a season-high nine points in the preseason poll on Jan. 2, 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 (4-0) is the top ranked team for the fourth consecutive poll, collecting all 21 of 22 first-place votes and 329 total points. UCLA (6-0) is second with one first-place vote and 307 total points. The rest of this week's top five remained unchanged with Long Beach State (4-0), Penn State (6-0) and Pepperdine (5-1). UC Irvine (6-0) moved up to sixth this week, followed in the top-10 by Stanford (5-1), Ball State (2-2), Grand Canyon (4-0) and USC (5-2). The remainder of the week three top-15 includes Loyola-Chicago (5-0), BYU (4-0), Ohio State (4-2), UC Santa Barbara (1-6) and Lewis (3-4).
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
USC (5-2), ranked 10th this week, defeated No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (1-5) in five sets in its home opener last Thursday, Jan. 19. Freshman OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills in his fifth straight match, leading all hitters in the match with 20 kills to go with four blocks (one solo) and three digs. The Trojans are hitting .291 as a team, compared to a .250 clip for their seven opponents. Wednesday's match is the 82nd meeting between CSUN and USC dating back to 1980 with the Trojans leading the all-time series 48-33. USC swept the Matadors in Santa Barbara on Jan. 6 to claim its third straight win in the series. CSUN's last win, its fourth straight, came in straight sets in Los Angeles in 2017.
UCLA (6-0), ranked second in the NVA/AVCA Top-15 Poll, improved to 6-0 on the season with a three-set win over UC San Diego last Saturday in Pauley Pavilion. Ido David paced the Bruin attack with 20 kills while hitting .633 as UCLA out hit the Tritons .442 to .225. Friday's match is the 90th meeting all-time between CSUN and UCLA dating back to 1978. The Bruins, who hold a commanding 74-15 lead in the all-time series, have won four straight dating back to the Matadors last win in Northridge in 2019.
CSUN VS. RANKED TEAMS
After opening the season with a pair of losses to ranked teams, the Matadors get their third and fourth cracks of the season this week in rematches against No. 10 USC and No. 2 UCLA. CSUN is now 2-17 against teams ranked in the NVA/AVCA Top 15 dating back to the start of the 2022 season. The Matadors last win against a top-10 team came last March when CSUN knocked off No. 9 UC San Diego in La Jolla in straight sets. The Matadors also upset No. 12 Stanford in Northridge on Feb. 26. CSUN finished the 2022 season 2-15 against ranked teams after playing an entire season of ranked teams in the COVID-shortened 2021 season, finishing 2-9 in 11 matches.Â
MATADOR MIDDLES ON THE UPSWING
After an initial shaky start in replacing All-American Daniel Wetter in the middle of the CSUN attack, Jackson Payne and Jano Tello have put together an impressive run of matches of late. Payne, who hit just .083 against UCLA and USC in the opening two matches of the season, has hit .471 over the Matadors' last four matches. Payne hit a season-high .833 (5-0-6) in CSUN's 3-0 win over Menlo on Friday and had a season-high six digs against The Master's on Wednesday. The redshirt sophomore from Carlsbad has also been CSUN's top blocker this season with 15 total blocks including three solo stuffs. Tello hit .375 in the season opener against UCLA before hitting a season-low -.143 against the Trojans in Santa Barbara. Tello has also caught fire on the homestand, hitting .380 in CSUN's three wins while also adding five bocks, four digs and three aces.
CSUN MIDWAY THROUGH SEVEN-MATCH HOMESTAND
The Matadors' two matches this week against USC and UCLA mark the midpoint of CSUN's seven-match homestand. Originally an eight-match homestand, the schedule was revised after the Jan. 12 match against Edward Waters was canceled. CSUN, currently 3-0 on the homestand, concludes the stretch with matches against Vanguard (Feb. 1) and Stanford (Feb. 3). The seven-match homestand is the longest for a Matador team since 2012 when CSUN 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
With 21 kills in two matches last week, redshirt junior Kyle Hobus is quickly closing in on 500 career kills. Hobus now has 492 career kills in three-plus seasons. In 151 career sets, Hobus is averaging 3.26 kills per set while hitting .246 on 1,122 career attacks ... Griffin Walters leads CSUN with 12 aces this season which averages out to 0.63 aces per set. Walters, who ranks fifth in the Big West and 13th nationally, has upped his career aces total to 58 in 165 career sets.
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 home matches against USC and UCLA this week, the Matadors close out their season-long, seven-match homestand next week against Vanguard (Feb. 1) and Stanford (Feb. 3).
#UniteTheValley
