Friday, March 14
Long Beach, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
14-4,0-2Big West
0
at
3
Long Beach State
17-0,2-0Big West
1
2
3
F
CSUN
17
14
18
0
Long Beach St.
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald
Matadors Drop Season Series With Top-Ranked Long Beach State
3/14/2025 9:23:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Sophomore Jalen Phillips put down a team-high 10 kills, but the 7th-ranked CSUN Matadors could not get untracked offensively in a 3-0 loss at top-ranked Long Beach State in a Big West match on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
The Matadors (14-4, 0-2 Big West) were limited to a season-low .016 team hitting clip as Phillips was the only CSUN hitter in double digits. The sophomore opposite hit .208 on 24 swings while senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added four kills (.077) and a team-high five digs. Joao Favarim chipped in two kills, hitting .500 on four attacks along with one block and one dig. Senior setter Donovan Constable registered 15 assists and two digs and Boaz Serson came off the bench to serve CSUN's lone ace.
After hitting .522 in a 3-0 win in Northridge last week, the Beach connected at a .387 clip to sweep the season series from the Matadors. Long Beach also racked up 13 aces, seven coming from freshman setter Moni Nikolov.
S1 - LBSU 25, CSUN 17 – The Beach dominated the opening set, hitting .308 to CSUN's -.091. After a Bertozzi kill to open the match, Long Beach scored six straight to force an early Matador timeout. The lead would swell to as many as seven at 10-3 following a CSUN service ace. The deficit remained seven at 12-5 when the hosts claimed four of the next five points to open up a double digit lead at 16-6. A Favarim kill cut the margin to eight (17-9) but CSUN would get no closer the rest of the way.
S2 - LBSU 25, CSUN 14 – After a Long Beach service error pulled CSUN even at 3-3, the Beach claimed six straight points to take a 9-3 lead. The Matadors battle back to within four at 10-6, 11-7, 13-9, 14-10, 15-11, and again at 16-12 before Long Beach scored four straight to force a CSUN timeout at 20-12. The Matadors' final two points of the set came on Long Beach service errors as the hosts closed out a 25-14 win.
S3 – LBSU 25, CSUN 18 - After the score was tied just four times in the first two sets, the final set saw five ties, the last at 8-8 following a Phillips kill. The Beach would then score four straight to open up a 12-8 cushion. Still trailing by three at 13-10, a Phillips kill capped a 3-1 Matador run that trimmed the lead to 14-13. Long Beach would answer with a 6-1 run to boost its lead to 20-14 before pulling away for the 25-18 win.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"Long Beach is a really tough opponent, they served the ball at an elite level tonight and we were never able to find our rhythm. Great learning experience for our team and hopefully we can take what we learned tonight on the road against Lewis and Loyola."
UP NEXT
CSUN heads to the Midwest next week for its final two non-conference matches of the season at Lewis (Mar. 20) and Loyola Chicago (Mar. 22).
#GoMatadors
The Matadors (14-4, 0-2 Big West) were limited to a season-low .016 team hitting clip as Phillips was the only CSUN hitter in double digits. The sophomore opposite hit .208 on 24 swings while senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added four kills (.077) and a team-high five digs. Joao Favarim chipped in two kills, hitting .500 on four attacks along with one block and one dig. Senior setter Donovan Constable registered 15 assists and two digs and Boaz Serson came off the bench to serve CSUN's lone ace.
After hitting .522 in a 3-0 win in Northridge last week, the Beach connected at a .387 clip to sweep the season series from the Matadors. Long Beach also racked up 13 aces, seven coming from freshman setter Moni Nikolov.
S1 - LBSU 25, CSUN 17 – The Beach dominated the opening set, hitting .308 to CSUN's -.091. After a Bertozzi kill to open the match, Long Beach scored six straight to force an early Matador timeout. The lead would swell to as many as seven at 10-3 following a CSUN service ace. The deficit remained seven at 12-5 when the hosts claimed four of the next five points to open up a double digit lead at 16-6. A Favarim kill cut the margin to eight (17-9) but CSUN would get no closer the rest of the way.
S2 - LBSU 25, CSUN 14 – After a Long Beach service error pulled CSUN even at 3-3, the Beach claimed six straight points to take a 9-3 lead. The Matadors battle back to within four at 10-6, 11-7, 13-9, 14-10, 15-11, and again at 16-12 before Long Beach scored four straight to force a CSUN timeout at 20-12. The Matadors' final two points of the set came on Long Beach service errors as the hosts closed out a 25-14 win.
S3 – LBSU 25, CSUN 18 - After the score was tied just four times in the first two sets, the final set saw five ties, the last at 8-8 following a Phillips kill. The Beach would then score four straight to open up a 12-8 cushion. Still trailing by three at 13-10, a Phillips kill capped a 3-1 Matador run that trimmed the lead to 14-13. Long Beach would answer with a 6-1 run to boost its lead to 20-14 before pulling away for the 25-18 win.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"Long Beach is a really tough opponent, they served the ball at an elite level tonight and we were never able to find our rhythm. Great learning experience for our team and hopefully we can take what we learned tonight on the road against Lewis and Loyola."
UP NEXT
CSUN heads to the Midwest next week for its final two non-conference matches of the season at Lewis (Mar. 20) and Loyola Chicago (Mar. 22).
#GoMatadors
Team Stats
CSUN
LBSU
Kills
19
33
Errors
18
9
Attempts
63
62
Hitting %
.016
.387
Points
22.0
55.5
Assists
18
31
Aces
1
13
Blocks
2
9.5
Game Leaders
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
2
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
2
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's VolleyballOPP
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's VolleyballCalHOPE Award Nathan Merren
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