California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
CSUN Opens Outrigger Big West Championship vs. UC Irvine
4/19/2023 6:28:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
2023 OUTRIGGER BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP:
MATCH #1Â (SEASON MATCHÂ #28)
No. 6 Seed CSUN (12-15, 1-9 Big West) vs. No. 3 Seed UC Irvine (16-10, 6-4 Big West)
Thursday, Apr. 20, 2023Â - 7:30Â p.m. PDT
Bren Events Center - Irvine, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Men's Volleyball team (12-15, 1-9 Big West) is the No. 6 seed in this week's Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship and will open the tournament Thursday against No. 3 seed UC Irvine (18-8, 6-4 Big West) at UCI's Bren Events Center at 7:30 p.m. The winner of Thursday's first round match will advance to Friday's Semifinal round where No. 2 seed Long Beach State awaits at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday's other first round match features No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara taking No. 5 seed UC San Diego which precedes the CSUN/UCI match at 5:00 p.m. No. 1 seed Hawai'i will meet the winner of the UCSB/UCSD match in the first Semifinal match on Friday at 5 p.m. PDT.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
The opening four matches of the Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship can be viewed on ESPN+ on the mainland and through Spectrum Sports in Hawai'i. 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.
CSUN RECEIVING VOTES IN THIS WEEK'S NVA/AVCA?TOP-15 NATIONAL COACHES POLL
The Matadors (12-15, 1-9 Big West) slipped out of the top-15 for the first time since Jan. 30 after dropping a pair of matches to UC Santa Barbara last week. CSUN received 12 points this week and is the second team in the "Others receiving votes" section. The Matadors, who received a season-high 91 points to rank 12th on Mar. 13, had been ranked in the top-15 for 10 straight polls this season. The Matadors moved back into the poll for the for the first time since the 2020 season on Feb. 6 (No. 15). Prior to Feb. 6 poll, 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 (26-2) held on to the No. 1 spot again this week as the Rainbow Warriors collected 15 of 22 first-place votes and 320 total points. UCLA (27-2) remains No. 2 after earning the remaining seven first-place votes followed by Penn State (24-3), Long Beach State (20-3) and UC Irvine (16-10). BYU (18-6) remained sixth this week, followed in the top-10 by Grand Canyon (21-6), Stanford (13-12), Pepperdine (16-13) and Ball State (19-8). The remainder of this week's top-15 includes Ohio State (20-9), USC (10-15), Loyola-Chicago (21-7), Charleston (22-6) and Princeton (13-11).
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UC Irvine (16-10, 6-4 Big West) concluded the regular season with a 3-2 loss to No. 4 Long Beach State at home. Junior Francesco Sani had a match-best 20 kills (his seventh 20-kill performance of the season), five aces, seven digs and five total blocks. Outside hitter Hilir Henno recorded 16 kills, an ace and nine digs while Connor Campbell had a season-high 10 kills and four block assists.
All-Time Series: Thursday's match is the 77th meeting all-time between the Matadors and UC Irvine. The Anteaters won both meetings this season and now hold a 40-36 lead in the series. UCI, which won in straight sets at home on Mar. 31 and 3-0 in Northridge on Mar. 31, has now won four straight over CSUN dating back to the Matadors last win in 2021. The Matadors are 17-23 against the 'Eaters in Irvine and 19-15 in Northridge in the series that dates back to 1977.Â
Tournament History vs. UCI: The Matadors and UC Irvine have never met in the postseason.
TRIO OF MATADORS EARN ALL-BIG WEST HONORS
Highlighted by first team selection Kyle Hobus, CSUN men's volleyball had three players named to the 2023 Big West Men's Volleyball All-Conference Team. Hobus, a redshirt junior, earned first-team honors for the consecutive season while junior Griffin Walters earned honorable mention accolades for the first time and Malcolm King was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.
Hobus had another huge season for the Matadors in 2023. He leads CSUN in kills with 334 and ranks fourth in the Big West averaging 3.63 kills per set. He has been the Matador leader in kills in 19 of 27 matches this season and has also set season-highs in attempts (776), digs (119) and blocks (64). Hobus was also the Big West Co-Freshman of the Year as well as an honorable mention and All-Freshman selection in 2020.
Walters was also one of the Matadors' top offensive weapons this season, setting season career-highs in virtually every statistical category. He ranks second to Hobus in kills with 259 while also ranking second on the team averaging 2.82 kills per set. Walters also has 114 digs and 34 total blocks this season and ranks eighth in the Big West in aces, averaging 0.34 per set.
King represents the eighth Matador freshman to earn Big West All-Freshman Team accolades after Maciej Ptaszynski (2018), Taylor Ittner and Wetter (2019), Hobus (2020), Kyle Merchen (2021) and Donovan Constable and Olumide Allen (2022). King finished his first season with 40 kills on .270 hitting and was one of the leading blockers on the team with 41 in just 45 sets (0.91 bps) which ranked sixth among Big West players.
CSUN BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
Thursday's Outrigger Big West Championship opener against UC Irvine marks the Matadors' 22nd appearance in a postseason conference tournament since 1990. Also the No. 6 seed in the most recent Big West Tournament in Hawai'i in 2022, CSUN dropped a straight-set decision to No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara in the first round at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Matadors' most recent win in the conference tournament came over UC Santa Barbara (3-1) in the first round of the 2018 Big West Tournament at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid ... The victory over the Gauchos in 2019 was CSUN's first postseason victory since defeating BYU in the semifinals of the 2010 MPSF Tournament at Stanford. The Matadors were regular participants in the MPSF Tournament, earning a spot in the postseason each and every season from 2002-2010. In all, CSUN has now qualified for the postseason tournament 22 times since 1990. The Matadors were 8-14 all-time in conference tournament matches under previous head coach Jeff Campbell and will play in the postseason for the first time under Theo Edwards on Thursday. CSUN has reached the conference tournament championship match three times, most recently the MPSF Tournament Championship in 2010.
KRZMARZICK SHINES INÂ FINAL SERIES
Senior Luke Krzmarzick made the most of his second start of the season Saturday at UC Santa Barbara. After coming off the bench against the Gauchos on Friday, Krzmarzick put down a career-high 16 kills on 35 attempts to .314 hitting to go with career-highs of five blocks, eight digs and a pair of assists on Saturday. In the two-match series against UCSB, Krzmarzick had 27 kills on .333 hitting. The senior from Torrance's last start of the season prior to Saturday was the season opener against No. 2 UCLA in Santa Barbara on Jan. 5.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
2023 marks CSUN's sixth season as a member of the Big West in men's volleyball. At 1-9 this season, the Matadors are now 12-38 (.240) in 50 Big West matches over six seasons since the conference's inaugural season in 2018. 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 both 2022 and 2023. 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. He picked up his first collegiate coaching win when the Matadors swept Lincoln Memorial in Santa Barbara on Jan. 7. 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
If the Matadors defeat UC Irvine in the first round, CSUN would take on No. 2 seed Long Beach State on Friday at 7:30 p.m.Â
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