Matadors' Season Ends With 3-0 Loss to UC Irvine in Big West Championship

With the 25-21, 25-22, 25-18 win, the Anteaters improve to 17-10 and earn a spot in the semifinals against No. 2 seed Long Beach State. The Matadors see their season end at 12-16.

KEY STATISTICS
• Senior Luke Krzmarzick led the Matadors with eight kills on .333 hitting and also had a pair of digs, one block and one ace in his final collegiate match.
• Kyle Hobus added seven kills (.045), two digs, one ace and one assist while Griffin Walters and Jano Tello each chipped in six kills with Tello hitting a team-high .500 on 10 swings.
• Setter Donovan Constable registered 22 assists, two kills, two digs, two blocks and one ace and libero Taylan Cook scooped up a team-high six digs.
• The host Anteaters out-hit the Matadors .405 to .274 and served eight aces to CSUN's three.
• Hilir Henno led all hitters in the match with 12 kills and four aces to lead the Anteaters.

COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"Tonight was a tough one. You prepare and you definitely don't want to come out on the losing end of a match like this. But the hard work and dedication the guys put in this season showed a lot of progress and growth for us. I'm incredibly proud of that and unfortunately it wasn't enough to get us past UC Irvine which played incredibly well tonight. We have one senior (Luke Krzmarzick) and I'm also incredibly proud of his performance over the last couple weeks and the way he ended his career. We're looking forward to next year.

SET 1
The Matadors surrendered the first four points of the match and would never lead in the opening set. Trailing 6-1, CSUN rallied back to within 8-5 following a Krzmarzick kill and a UCI hitting error. An ensuing 3-0 run by the hosts pushed the lead back to six at 11-5 and the Matadors still trailed by six (20-14) when they mounted a late rally. A Hobus kill followed by consecutive kills from Walters cut the deficit to 20-17 forcing an Anteater timeout. CSUN then scored on two of the next three points to get as close as 21-19 when UCI outscored the Matadors 4-2 down the stretch in a 25-21 win.

SET 2
The second set proved to be the tightest of the match as the teams played to eight ties while the lead changed hands twice. A triple block by Constable, Walters and Tello gave the Matadors an early 3-2 lead and CSUN would hold five two-point leads after that. Leading 9-7, the Matadors surrendered a 6-2 UCI run that put the hosts in front 13-11. The Matadors, who would hit .318 in the set, rallied back to tie the score at 13-13 and would keep the score knotted at 14-14 and 15-15. Three straight UCI points opened up an 18-15 lead before CSUN rallied back to within one at 18-17. The Matadors were still within one at 23-22 when an Anteater kill and a CSUN hitting error on set point sent UCI to the 25-22 win.

SET 3
Needing a win to stay in the match, the Matadors got out to a good start in the final set. Leading 5-3, CSUN used a Krzmarzick kill, a co-block from Walters and Malcolm King and a Hobus ace to open up an 8-3 cushion. Following a UCI timeout, the Matadors would maintain a five-point lead at 9-4 and 10-5 when a 4-1 run by the hosts trimmed the lead to two at 11-9. A Hobus kill following a Matador timeout kept the lead at three (12-9) before three straight points by the Anteaters knotted the score. A UCI service error gave the Matadors their final lead at 13-12 when UCI rolled off nine straight points to open up an insurmountable 21-13 lead. CSUN would not recover and wound up dropping the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.

#GoMatadors

Players Mentioned

Donovan Constable

Taylan Cook

Kyle Hobus

Malcolm King

Luke Krzmarzick

Jano Tello

Griffin Walters