California State University at Northridge
11-12,2-4Big West
UC Irvine
16-7,5-1Big West
CSUN Splits Season Series With UCI After Falling in Straight Sets on Saturday
3/30/2024 8:38:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
The Anteaters avenged their first Big West loss of the season on Friday by defeating the Matadors, 25-22, 25-21, 30-28.
Senior Kyle Hobus led CSUN (11-12, 2-4 Big West) with 16 kills, hitting .367 on a team-high 30 swings. Hobus also had five digs, a pair of blocks, and one ace on the night. Griffin Walters narrowly missed a double-double with a match-high 10 digs along with nine kills (.222). Jalen Phillips chipped in eight kills (.105) and Donovan Constable added three kills (.600), 39 assists, three aces, and three digs from the setter spot.
Both teams hit well on Saturday with UCI outhitting CSUN .412 to .326. Behind Constable's three aces, the Matadors had seven as a team to three for the Anteaters. After posting a season-high 17 blocks in Friday's win, CSUN was out-blocked by the margin of 9-6 in Saturday's loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED- UCI opened the match on a 4-1 run before CSUN rallied back to within one (6-5) following a 4-2 run. The Anteaters then claimed three of the next four to extend the lead to four at 10-6. The Matadors would stay within two a handful of times throughout the set, the final time at 24-22, before UCI took advantage of a CSUN service error to claim a 25-22 win. The hosts hit an impressive .607 in the set while the Matadors hit .500.
- Both teams saw their hitting slow down in the second set, but the Anteaters did enough to pull out a 25-21 win. UCI forced an early CSUN timeout leading 10-7 before the Matadors put together a 4-2 run to close to within 12-11 on a Hobus kill and a Jano Tello ace. But CSUN would get no closer the rest of the way in falling by four.
- The final set saw the teams play to 17 ties with five lead changes. With UCI holding a 15-14 lead at the media timeout, a Walters kill fueled a 6-2 CSUN run that gave the Matadors their largest lead of the night at 20-17. A 5-2 run by the hosts forced a CSUN timeout at 22-22 and the teams battled through six more ties, the last at 28-28, when a pair of Nolan Flexon kills sent the Anteaters to the 30-28 win.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"I really like the volleyball we're playing right now. We played at a high level against a talented UCI team but it just wasn't enough tonight. They were a little better and a little cleaner than we were and we need to be able to slow down their hitters. To have two of their hitters hit over .400, that's tough to beat. To get splits against the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country proved to us we can play with anyone and we'll get ready for Long Beach State next weekend."
UP NEXT
CSUN opens its penultimate series of the regular season next Friday (Apr. 5) at top-ranked Long Beach State at 7 p.m. The Beach and Matadors then cap the season series on Saturday in Northridge at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
