No. 16 CSUN Opens East Coast Trip With Sweep Over St. Thomas Aquinas

FAIRFAX, Va. – The 16th-ranked CSUN men's volleyball team swept Saint Thomas Aquinas (STAC) in the Matadors' opening match of the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Recreation Athletic Complex on the campus of George Mason.

Set scores were 25-15, 25-17, 25-19 as CSUN improves to 6-2 on the season with its fourth sweep in eight matches.

The Matadors were led by freshman Stilian Delibosov who tied for team-high honors with five kills and 2.5 blocks while hitting .444 on nine swings. Senior Lorenzo Bertozzi matched Delibosov with five kills, hitting .375 on eight attacks. Senior setter Donovan Constable had another solid all-around match with 27 assists, six digs, four aces, three kills, and three blocks in the win.

CSUN was efficient throughout the lineup, hitting .284 as a team with 35 kills and 12 errors on 81 swings. In addition to Constable, five other Matador hitters added three kills with Trevor Lau and Jackson Payne either tying or posting a season-high. CSUN limited the Spartans to an .013 team hitting clip while also posting advantages in aces (7-2), blocks (9-4), and digs (28-24).

S1 l CSUN 25, STAC 15 – CSUN opened up an 8-4 cushion following a Spartan hitting error and would eventually lead by five (12-7) when Joao Avila connected for a kill. STAC would close to within four (14-10) before an 8-2 run by the Matadors gave CSUN a double digit lead at 22-12. Bertozzi had four kills in the set to lead the Matadors who hit .370.

S2 l CSUN 25, STAC 17 – STAC led 3-1 in the early going before CSUN put together a 4-1 run to take a 5-4 lead on a Delibosov ace. A Spartan block tied the score before the Matadors used a pair of STAC hitting errors to take the lead for good. A Constable kill and a Delibosov block fueled a 5-0 CSUN run giving the Matadors their largest lead at 18-9. The Spartans closed to within six at 20-14 before CSUN opened up a two-set lead after closing out a 25-17 win on a Lau kill.

S3 l CSUN 25, STAC 19 – CSUN outscored STAC 12-7 to open the final set, capped by a Boaz Serson ace. Hank Kaufman connected giving the Matadors a five-point lead at 13-8. CSUN maintained a five-point edge at 15-10 before the Spartans engineered a 4-1 run to pull within 16-14. Nir Eitan's kill ended the run while propelling the Matadors on a set-clinching 9-5 run sealing CSUN's 25-19 win.

NOTES

The match was the first-ever contest between St. Thomas Aquinas and CSUN in men's volleyball.

HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"It was a good match, I thought our guys played well. We had an opportunity to get a lot of guys some playing time and I felt that everyone that came in responded well. It was nice to have Stilian (Delibosov) back in the lineup. He still isn't quite 100% but I felt like tonight he looked more like himself."

UP NEXT
CSUN wraps up the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Tournament on Sunday, taking on host and 20th-ranked George Mason at 10 a.m. PT.

#GoMatadors

No. 16 CSUN Opens East Coast Trip With Sweep Over St. Thomas Aquinas

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Players Mentioned

Joao Avila

Lorenzo Bertozzi

Donovan Constable

Stilian Delibosov

Nir Eitan

Hank Kaufman

Trevor Lau

Boaz Serson