Saturday, March 25
Northridge, CA
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
12-9,1-3Big West
0
vs
3
Hawai'i
20-2,3-1Big West
1
2
3
F
Hawaii
25
25
25
3
CSUN
17
18
15
0
Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald
No. 14 Matadors Fall in Straight Sets to Second-Ranked Hawai'i
3/25/2023 9:22:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The CSUN men's volleyball team had trouble slowing down a hot-hitting Hawai'i team as the second-ranked Rainbow Warriors swept the Matadors for the second straight night in a Big West match Saturday night at Premier America Credit Union Arena.
With the win, Hawai'i sweeps the two-match Big West set to improve to 20-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big West. The Matadors drop their fourth straight to slip to 12-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
KEY STATISTICS
• Griffin Walters and Kyle Hobus each had eight kills to lead the Matadors with Walters hitting .300 on 20 attacks to go with three digs and a pair of solo blocks. Hobus would also tie for match-high honors with seven digs in the night.
• Jano Tello added six kills on eight swings to hit .625 along with one ace and one block but no other CSUN hitter had more than two kills.
• Setter Donovan Constable had 20 assists, two digs and one ace while libero Taylan Cook posted four digs in the loss.
• The Warriors, who hit .478 in Friday's 3-0 win, hit at a .392 clip on Saturday while the Matadors hit .085 despite hitting .407 in set two. Hawai'i also had a sizable advantage in blocks for the second night in a row, posting 13.0 team blocks to 3.0 for CSUN.Â
• Dimitrios Mouchlias led all hitters in the match with 13 kills (.522) to lead Hawai'i while Chaz Galloway added seven kills (.429) and Spyros Chakas chipped in six kills and a match-high four aces.
COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"The bright side of this weekend is that Hawai'i helped us learn some things about ourselves. My hope is that we can use some of the things we learned in these two matches and catapult ourselves into the rest of the Big West season. There were some moments in this series that we played some high-level volleyball but give credit to Hawai'i, that is a really good team."
SET 1
After a Hobus kill kept CSUN within 3-2 in the early going, the visitors scored three straight to open up a 6-2 cushion. A UH service error cut the deficit to 6-3 before Hawai'i would claim four of the next five points to force a Matador timeout at 10-4. a 3-1 UH run out of the timeout extended the lead to eight (13-5) before the Matadors mounted a 6-3 rally to pull within three at 17-14. But CSUN would get no closer as the Rainbow Warriors pulled away to win opening set, 25-17.
SET 2
UH then hit .714 without committing a single hitting error to open a two-set lead with the 25-18 win. Trailing 9-5, CSUN used a UH service error, a Constable ace and a Tello kill to pull within one at 9-8. But a Chakas kill would fuel a 4-0 UH run the put the visitors in front by five at 13-8. After Matteo Salvador connected for a kill, the Warriors scored three straight to open up their largest lead at 16-9. A Walters kill pulled the Matadors within four (22-18) in the latter stages before Hawai'i closed out a 25-18 win.
SET 3Â
After hitting .407 in set two, the Matadors were held to a -.182 hitting clip in the final set as Hawai'i led from start to finish in a 25-15 victory.
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UP NEXT
CSUN continues Big West play next weekend as the Matadors open up a home-and-home series with UC Irvine Friday in Irvine at 7 p.m. The same two teams return to Northridge on Saturday for a 7 p.m. first serve.Â
#GoMatadors
With the win, Hawai'i sweeps the two-match Big West set to improve to 20-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big West. The Matadors drop their fourth straight to slip to 12-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
KEY STATISTICS
• Griffin Walters and Kyle Hobus each had eight kills to lead the Matadors with Walters hitting .300 on 20 attacks to go with three digs and a pair of solo blocks. Hobus would also tie for match-high honors with seven digs in the night.
• Jano Tello added six kills on eight swings to hit .625 along with one ace and one block but no other CSUN hitter had more than two kills.
• Setter Donovan Constable had 20 assists, two digs and one ace while libero Taylan Cook posted four digs in the loss.
• The Warriors, who hit .478 in Friday's 3-0 win, hit at a .392 clip on Saturday while the Matadors hit .085 despite hitting .407 in set two. Hawai'i also had a sizable advantage in blocks for the second night in a row, posting 13.0 team blocks to 3.0 for CSUN.Â
• Dimitrios Mouchlias led all hitters in the match with 13 kills (.522) to lead Hawai'i while Chaz Galloway added seven kills (.429) and Spyros Chakas chipped in six kills and a match-high four aces.
COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"The bright side of this weekend is that Hawai'i helped us learn some things about ourselves. My hope is that we can use some of the things we learned in these two matches and catapult ourselves into the rest of the Big West season. There were some moments in this series that we played some high-level volleyball but give credit to Hawai'i, that is a really good team."
SET 1
After a Hobus kill kept CSUN within 3-2 in the early going, the visitors scored three straight to open up a 6-2 cushion. A UH service error cut the deficit to 6-3 before Hawai'i would claim four of the next five points to force a Matador timeout at 10-4. a 3-1 UH run out of the timeout extended the lead to eight (13-5) before the Matadors mounted a 6-3 rally to pull within three at 17-14. But CSUN would get no closer as the Rainbow Warriors pulled away to win opening set, 25-17.
SET 2
UH then hit .714 without committing a single hitting error to open a two-set lead with the 25-18 win. Trailing 9-5, CSUN used a UH service error, a Constable ace and a Tello kill to pull within one at 9-8. But a Chakas kill would fuel a 4-0 UH run the put the visitors in front by five at 13-8. After Matteo Salvador connected for a kill, the Warriors scored three straight to open up their largest lead at 16-9. A Walters kill pulled the Matadors within four (22-18) in the latter stages before Hawai'i closed out a 25-18 win.
SET 3Â
After hitting .407 in set two, the Matadors were held to a -.182 hitting clip in the final set as Hawai'i led from start to finish in a 25-15 victory.
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN continues Big West play next weekend as the Matadors open up a home-and-home series with UC Irvine Friday in Irvine at 7 p.m. The same two teams return to Northridge on Saturday for a 7 p.m. first serve.Â
#GoMatadors
Team Stats
Hawaii
CSUN
Kills
35
27
Errors
6
20
Attempts
74
82
Hitting %
.392
.085
Points
54
32
Assists
33
25
Aces
6
2
Blocks
13
3
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
2
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
S
/ Men's Volleyball
L
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
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