California State University at Northridge
Cal Lutheran
No. 10 CSUN Continues Homestand Friday vs. Cal Lutheran
2/26/2025 11:51:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
MATCH #14:
Cal Lutheran Kingsmen (14-3) @ No. 10 CSUN Matadors (11-2)
Friday, Feb. 28, 2025Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUN Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
The 10th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball team (11-2, 0-0 Big West) closes in on the mid-point of its season-long, six-match homestand this week as the Matadors host Cal Lutheran (14-3)Â in a non-conference match Friday at 6 p.m. CSUN, which reached its highest national ranking since 2019, has won its first two matches on the homestand, knocking off eighth-ranked Grand Canyon, 3-1 last week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Friday's match against Cal Lutheran will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Darren Preston on the call. All Matador home matches this season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform with 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 any live stats, audio and video. Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official X feed (@GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNMensVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
CSUN RISES TO 10TH IN AVCA NATIONAL COLLEGIATE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After knocking off No. 8 Grand Canyon, 3-1 at home last week and riding a season-high six-match winning streak, the Matadors (11-2) moved up to a season-high 10th in this week's AVCA National Collegiate Poll (Feb. 24). This week also marks CSUN's first appearance in the top-10 since Jan. 14, 2019, when the Matadors were also 10th. CSUN received a season-high 240 points this week, a 42-point jump from last week. The Matadors, ranked in all 17 polls last season, have now been ranked in all eight polls this season (10th, 12th, 13th, 15th three times, and 16th twice). Prior to moving back into the AVCA national poll (#15 on Feb. 6, 2023) for the first time since the 2020 season, CSUN had previously 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
Long Beach State (14-0) remained the No. 1 team in this week's poll, earning all 23 first-place votes and 460 total points. UCLA (8-3) moved back up to second with 433 points followed in the top five by UC Irvine (10-2), Hawai'i (13-1), and USC (9-2). BYU (12-4) remained sixth this week, followed in the top 10 by Loyola Chicago (13-1), Stanford (6-5), Pepperdine (8-3) and the Matadors (11-2). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Ball State (10-5), Grand Canyon (9-3), McKendree (8-5), UC San Diego (10-4), Lewis (11-4), Ohio State (6-7), UC Santa Barbara (7-6), Lincoln Memorial (11-1), NJIT (7-4), and Penn State (4-8).
SCOUTING THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
Cal Lutheran (14-3) had its four-match winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss at No. 16 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday. Ben Weber had a team-high 10 kills on .450 hitting as CLU hit .209 as a team in the loss. Cal Lutheran came into the week ranked eighth in the AVCA Div. III Coaches Poll and seventh in the FrogJump T100. Prior to the UCSB match, the Kingsmen dropped a single set in a 4-0 week in Wisconsin (Feb. 13-16), sweeping Concordia-Wisconsin, Lakeland, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point and defeating Milwaukee School of Engineering, 3-1.
All-time series: Friday's match is the 10th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Kingsmen. CSUN, 8-0 against Cal Lutheran in Northridge, has yet to drop a set to the Kingsmen in nine previous meetings. CSUN won the most recent match between the two teams in straight sets (25-15, 25-15, 25-23) in Northridge in 2024.
PHILLIPS EARNS SECOND BIG WEST WEEKLY AWARDÂ
On the strength of his 19-kill performance in No. 13 CSUN's win over No. 8 Grand Canyon on Feb. 19, redshirt sophomore Jalen Phillips was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season as the Big West announced its weekly awards on Monday (Feb. 24). Phillips, who also earned the weekly award on Jan. 20, was instrumental in the Matadors knocking off the eighth-ranked Lopes in four sets as he led all hitters in the match with 19 kills, hitting .275 on 40 swings to go with three aces, three digs, and four blocks. Phillips has now reached double figures in kills nine times in 12 matches this season. He posted a career-high 27 kills (.404) against Lindenwood on Jan. 18 and has 20 or more kills three times this season.
DELIBOSOV REMAINS NCAA BLOCKS LEADERÂ
Freshman Stilian Delibosov remained the national leader in blocking for the second straight week, averaging 1.39 blocks per set. Delibosov has a team-high 57 total blocks through 41 sets this season, including six solo stuffs. Phillips and Donovan Constable also rank among the national leaders in several statistical categories this week. Phillips ranks second in kills per set at 4.55 and is fourth in both points per set at 5.18 and attacks per set at 9.39. Constable is fifth in aces per set at 0.66 and eighth in assists per set at 10.36.
In this week's Big West ranks, the Matadors continue to lead the Big West in both team assists (12.02) and team blocks (2.50). CSUN also ranks second in points (17.29 per set), third in hitting percentage (.316), opponent hitting (.230), and digs (8.21), and fourth in service aces (1.85).
CONSTABLE CAREER ASSISTS WATCH
With 37 assists against Grand Canyon last week, senior Donovan Constable increased his career assists total to 3,050 in 316 sets. Constable became just the seventh player in program history with 3,000 career assists with his 13th assist against Jessup on Feb. 14. The senior from Clovis is now 480 assists away from sixth place on the all-time program list. Constable has already passed Travis Magorien (2,911) and Sam Porter (2,711) this season and has his sights set on Gary Reznick who has 3,530 assists from 1990-94. Constable is one of four Matador setters in the program top-10 to play in the Rally Scoring era of collegiate volleyball. He also ranks fifth in CSUN's Rally Scoring era assists list, trailing Matt Stork and fourth place by 730.
CSUN QUICK SETSÂ
Senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added to the many milestone for Matador players in 2025 as he reached 300 career kills with the fourth of his 12 kills against Grand Canyon ... Constable now has 99 career aces, looking to become the eighth player in program history with 100 or more aces ... Joao Favarim had a season-high five blocks against GCU ... The Matadors improved to 3-2 against AVCA ranked teams with Wednesday's 3-1 win over No. 8 Grand Canyon. CSUN also has road wins over No. 10 Pepperdine (3-1) and No. 20 George Mason (3-1) ... The Matadors are now 6-2 this season in four-set matches and have won all five three-setters this season. CSUN has yet to play a five-set match in 2025 ... The Matadors are also unbeaten so far in February at 6-0.
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
The 2025 season marks CSUN's eighth 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 IN THIRD SEASON AS HEAD COACH
Theo Edwards is in his third season as CSUN's head coach in 2025 after leading the Matadors back into the AVCA national rankings in his first two seasons. Now in his 15th 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. Last season, CSUN advanced to the semifinal round of the Outrigger Big West Championship for the first time since 2018 and finished the season with a 13-16 (3-7 Big West) record and a No. 14 national ranking.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Friday's match against Cal Lutheran - CSUN's third match on its current six-match homestand - the Matadors will remain at home next week to host Sacred Heart (Mar. 3) and No. 1 Long Beach State (Mar. 5). CSUN's match against top-ranked Long Beach State on Mar. 5 marks the Big West opener for both teams.
#GoMatadors
