California State University at Northridge
UC San Diego
CSUN Opens Outrigger Big West Championship Thursday vs. UC San Diego
4/17/2024 5:26:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
2024 OUTRIGGER BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP
MATCH #1Â (SEASON MATCHÂ #28)
No. 5 Seed CSUN (12-15, 3-7 Big West) vs. No. 4 Seed UC San Diego (12-14, 4-6 Big West)
Thursday, Apr. 18, 2024Â - 7:30Â p.m. PDT/4:30 p.m. HT
SimipliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center - Honolulu, O'ahu
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUN Men's Volleyball Media Notes // Tournament Central
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Men's Volleyball team (12-15, 3-7 Big West) is the No. 5 seed in this week's Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship and will open the tournament Thursday (Apr. 18) against No. 4 seed UC San Diego (12-14, 4-6 Big West) at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m./4:30 p.m. HT. The winner of Thursday's first round match will advance to Friday's Semifinal round where No. 1 seed Long Beach State awaits at 7:30 p.m./4:30 p.m. HT.
Thursday's other first round match features No. 3 seed Hawai'i taking No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara which follows the CSUN/UCSD match at 10:00 p.m./7:00 p.m. HT. No. 2 UC Irvine will meet the winner of the Hawai'i/UCSB match in the second Semifinal match on Friday at 10 p.m. PDT/7:00 p.m. HT.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
All matches of the 2024 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 BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP NOTESÂ
Thursday's Outrigger Big West Championship opener against UC San Diego marks the Matadors' 23rd appearance in a postseason conference tournament since 1990. CSUN was the No. 6 seed in the most recent Outrigger Big West Championship in Irvine in 2023, falling to No. 3 seed UC Irvine in straight sets. The last time the championship was held in Honolulu, the Matadors dropped a straight-set decision to No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara in the first round in 2022. CSUN's 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 23 times since 1990. Theo Edwards will coach his second Big West Championship match on Thursday. Edwards and the Matadors dropped a 3-0 decision in his debut season in 2023. CSUN finished 8-14 all-time in conference tournament matches under previous head coach Jeff Campbell, the Matadors reached the conference tournament championship match three times, most recently the MPSF Tournament Championship in 2010 ... With 382 kills this season, Hobus has a chance to become the first CSUN hitter in 14 years to reach 400 kills in one season. Eric Vance was the last Matador to reach the milestone, putting down 625 kills in 2009 ... Seven of CSUN's 12 wins this season have come in four-sets. The Matadors also picked up their first win this season when they have fewer kills that their opponent. In Saturday's 3-1 win in Northridge, UCSB had 48 kills to CSUN's 47 ... With 176 aces this season, the Matadors moved into second place in the Big West.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UC San Diego (12-14, 4-6 Big West), seeded No. 4 in this week's Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship, finished the regular season with home split against No. 4 Hawai'i last weekend. Anthony Cherfan was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.10 kills per set against Hawai'i. Cherfan had 13 kills (.310) in the Tritons' 3-0 win on Saturday after putting down 16 kills on .406 hitting in Friday's loss. UCSD comes into the Big West Championship hitting .257 as a team this season, compared to .279 for its opponents.Â
All-Time Series: Thursday's first round match is the 96th meeting all-time between the Matadors and UC San Diego. In the series that dates back to 1977, CSUN holds a commanding 80-15 lead in the series. The Tritons claimed both regular season meetings this year, winning in four sets in La Jolla, and coming back from two sets down to pull off the reverse sweep in Northridge on Mar. 15. The two teams also met in the first round of the Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship in 2021 with UCSD winning in four sets at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
THREE MATADORS NAMED ALL-BIG WEST Â
For the second consecutive season, CSUN men's volleyball had three student-athletes honored as The Big West 2024 Men's Volleyball All-Conference Team was announced on Wednesday. The Matadors had a pair of first-team selections for the first time since 2022 as senior Kyle Hobus and junior Donovan Constable were both named to the top team. Redshirt freshman Jalen Phillips rounded out the CSUN trio as he was named honorable mention All-Big West as well as to the six-player All-Freshman Team.
Hobus, now a three-time first team All-Big West honoree, led CSUN with a career-high 382 kills during the regular season. He has also set new season career-highs in aces (43), blocks (80), assists (27) this season. Constable earned first team All-Big West honors for the first time in his career this season. A Big West All-Freshman Team selection in 2022, Constable has earned a pair of Big West Player of the Week honors this season while also earning All-Tournament Team accolades at the season-opening UCSB ASICS Invitational in January. In addition to earning honorable mention accolades, Phillips also represents the ninth CSUN player to earn Big West All-Freshman Team accolades after finishing his first season second only to Hobus with 306 kills, while hitting .290 on 638 attacks. Phillips also added 97 digs, 51 blocks, and 12 aces during his debut season.
PHILLIPS NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME
Phillips earned his fourth Big West Freshman of the Week award as announced by the conference office on Apr. 15. In two matches against UC Santa Barbara last week, Phillips had 30 kills while hitting .451 on 51 attacks. The redshirt freshman from Anaheim also added six digs, five blocks, two assists, and one ace. On Friday in Santa Barbara, Phillips had a team-high 16 kills, hitting .500 on 28 swings. He also had four digs and three blocks in CSUN's 3-1 loss. On Saturday, Phillips added 14 kills on .391 hitting to go with two digs, two blocks, and one ace as the Matadors won in four sets on CSUN's senior night.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
This season marks CSUN's seventh as a member of the Big West in men's volleyball. With a 3-7 regular record in 2024, the Matadors are now 15-45 (.250) in 60 Big West matches over seven 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 and 2024, 2-8 in 2021 and 1-9 in both 2022 and 2023. The 2020 conference season was not contested due to COVID-19. 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 CSUN'S 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.
LOOKING AHEAD
If the Matadors defeat UC San Diego in the first round on Thursday, CSUN would advance to take on No. 1 seed Long Beach State on Friday at 7:30 p.m. PDT./4:30 p.m. HT.
#GoMatadors
