California State University at Northridge
USC
#18 CSUN Heads to #11 USC Before Hosting Central State
1/24/2024 8:31:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MATCH #7
No. 18Â CSUN Matadors (3-3) @ No. 11 USC Trojans (5-1)
Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
Galen Center - Los Angeles, Calif.
Pac-12 Network
Live Stats
MATCH #8
Central State Marauders vs. No. 18 CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUN Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
Following a 2-1 homestand, the 18th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball team (3-3, 0-0 Big West) heads out on the road for a Wednesday non-conference match at No. 11 USC (5-1). The Matadors and Trojans are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first serve at Galen Center before CSUN returns home to take on Central State (0-6) on Saturday at 6 p.m. Saturday's match is the first ever between CSUN and Central State which started its men's volleyball program in 2022.
The Matadors were looking for an unbeaten homestand after winning the first two matches (Harvard, Cal Lutheran) before falling in five tough sets to No. 16 Princeton on Friday.
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.
CSUN REMAINS 18TH IN THIRD AVCA/NVA TOP-20 NATIONAL COACHES POLL
After splitting two home matches last week, the Matadors (3-3) remained 18th in the third AVCA/NVA National Collegiate MVB Poll of the 2024 season. CSUN, which has now held the No. 18 spot for three straight weeks, earned a total of 64 points this week. The Matadors earned a season-high 102 points in week one (Jan. 3) to rank a season-best 17th. Ranked in all four polls this season, the Matadors were ranked in the top-15 for 10 straight polls last season (Feb. 6-Apr. 10). Prior to moving back into the top-15 poll for the first time since the 2020 season on Feb. 6 (No. 15), 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.Â
Ohio State (6-0) took over as the top-ranked team this week after UCLA (5-1) held the honor for three straight weeks. The Buckeyes collected 12 of 23 first-place votes and 444 total points to edge the Bruins who picked up four first-place votes. Long Beach State (5-0) earned seven first place votes to rank third followed in the top five by Hawai'i (3-1), and Grand Canyon (6-0). Stanford (6-0) moved up to sixth, followed by UC Irvine (3-1), BYU (5-1), Penn State (4-2), and Pepperdine (6-0). The remainder of this week's top-20 includes USC (5-1), Lewis (4-2), Loyola-Chicago (3-5), Princeton (4-1), Ball State (7-4), George Mason (3-3), UC Santa Barbara (2-5), the Matadors (3-3), Charleston (4-0), and, UC San Diego (2-5).
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
#11 USC (5-1) had its season opening five match win streak snapped in a five-set loss to No. 4 Ohio State last Saturday at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas. The day before, the Trojans extended their season-opening win streak to five matches with a four-set victory over No. 14 Ball State. The win was the first over a ranked opponent for the Trojans and the first away from home. USC is undefeated in four matches at Galen Center this season.
All-Time Series: Wednesday's match is the 83rd meeting all-time between the Matadors and Trojans with USC holding a 49-33 lead in the series. The Matadors are 12-22 all-time in matches at USC but are 8-7 all-time in 15 matches at the Galen Center dating back to 2006.
Central State (0-6) opens a three-match West Coast trip Wednesday at Concordia Irvine. The Marauders will also play at No. 11 USC on Thursday before closing the trip Saturday in Northridge. Central State opened the season with 3-0 road losses to No. 6 Penn State and No. 16 Lewis and have played just once at home this season (3-0 loss to Quincy).
All-Time Series: Saturday's match is the first-ever meeting between CSUN and Central State.
PHILLIPS NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
CSUN redshirt freshman Jalen Phillips has been named Big West Men's Volleyball Freshman of the Week after leading the 18th-ranked Matadors to a split in two home matches last week. Phillips averaged 3.71 kills per set over seven sets of action as CSUN swept Cal Lutheran before falling to No. 16 Princeton in five sets. In two matches, Phillips hit an impressive .512 with 26 kills and five errors on 41 attacks. He also added six aces, including a career-high five aces against the 16th-ranked Tigers. Against No. 16 Princeton, Phillips had a season-high 21 kills on 33 attempts to hit a season-high .485. That followed up a five-kill, .625 hitting night in limited action in the Matadors' 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran.
GAUNTLET OF RANKED TEAMS Â
CSUN continues the early season gauntlet of playing ranked teams on Wednesday when the Matadors travel to take on the No. 11 Trojans. USC will be the fourth ranked team the Matadors have faced over their first seven matches of the season. CSUN has yet to knock off a ranked team in 2024 after opening the season against No. 7 Grand Canyon and No. 20 George Mason in Santa Barbara before falling in five tough sets to No. 16 Princeton last week. In total, the Matadors are scheduled to play 15 teams this season that are currently ranked in this week's AVCA/NVA Top-20.
CSUN LEADS THE BIG WEST IN KILLS, ASSISTS
Behind junior setter Donovan Constable, who leads the Big West averaging 10.77 assists per set, the Matadors lead the conference in both kills per set and assists per set through three weeks of the season. CSUN is averaging 12.74 kills per set and 11.91 assists per set while also ranking second in aces per set at 2.17 and third in points per set at 17.20. Individually, Constable continues to lead the Big West in assists while Phillips moved up to fourth among conference hitters with a .380 hitting percentage. Kyle Hobus also ranks among the top five of Big West players in aces, averaging 0.59 aces per set.
QUICK SETS
Senior Jano Tello came off the bench against Princeton to put down seven kills on eight swings to hit .750 while also adding a team-high four blocks and a career-high two aces. Tello, a career .372 hitter, upped his season hitting percentage to .281 ... Freshman Owen Douphner notched his first collegiate kill to go with a season-high 14 assists in CSUN's 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran. Doughner is one of six Matadors to make their Matador debut this season after freshman Nir Eitan and sophomore Niall Finnegan each made his CSUN debut in the Cal Lutheran match ... Trevor Lau, who made his debut against Harvard on Jan. 12, connected for a career-high five kills on .444 hitting in two sets against the Kingsmen ... CSUN played its first five-set match of the season against Princeton, setting season-highs in kills (64), assists (60), and aces (14). The Matadors' season-high 14 team aces ties for fifth for a single match in CSUN program history.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
2024 marks CSUN's seventh season as a member of the Big West in men's volleyball. After finishing 1-9 in 2023, the Matadors are now 12-38 (.240) in 50 Big West matches over six seasons since the conference's inaugural campaign in 2018. CSUN finished 5-5 in the first 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 Championship Tournament in 2018 in Long Beach before falling in the 2019, 2021 and 2022 quarterfinals in Hawai'i. CSUN fell to host UC Irvine in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Outrigger Big West Championship. Prior to 2018, the Matadors 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.
EDWARDS OPENS SECOND SEASON AS HEAD COACH
Theo Edwards opens his second season as CSUN's head coach in 2024 after leading the Matadors back into the AVCA national rankings in his first season. Now in his 14th season at CSUN, Edwards was named the successor to Jeff Campbell on Dec. 9, 2022. CSUN finished 12-16 in Edwards' first season (1-9 in the Big West) as CSUN moved back into the national rankings for the first time in three seasons. The Matadors received a season-high 91 points to rank a season-high 12th on Mar. 13. CSUN was ranked in the top-15 for 10 straight polls in 2023 after moving back into the poll for the for the first time since the 2020 season on Feb. 6 (No. 15).
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Friday's home match against Central State, the Matadors will travel to Stanford for two matches next week (Feb. 2-3) before returning home for their longest homestand of the season. CSUN hosts UC Merced on Feb. 7 which will open up a seven-match homestand which concludes Mar. 5 against Penn State.
#GoMatadors
