Thursday, March 20
Romeoville, Ill.
5:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
15-4,0-2Big West
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Lewis University
16-7,6-4MIVA
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CSUN
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25
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Lewis
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Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald
7th-Ranked CSUN Comes Back to Earn 5-Set Road Win at #15 Lewis
3/20/2025 8:07:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Sophomore Jalen Phillips led the Matadors with 23 kills as the 7th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball team battled back from a two sets to one deficit to notch a five-set road win at No 15 Lewis in a non-conference match Thursday night at Neil Carey Arena.
The Matadors improve to 15-4 overall while picking up their first five-set win of the season.
Phillips was the lone CSUN hitter in double figures, putting down 23 kills on 44 swings to hit .364. The sophomore opposite also added five digs, two blocks, and one ace on the night. Senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added eight kills (.083) and freshman Stilian Delibosov chipped in seven kills (.333) and four blocks.
CSUN overcame some hitting struggles early on to hit .216 (50-20-139) on the match. After hitting just over. 100 as a team through three sets, the Matadors hit .404 over the final two sets to come away with the win. Senior setter Donovan Constable dished out 44 assists while serving three aces. Joao Avila and Nir Eitan also added a pair of aces apiece as CSUN served 11 as a team.
For the match, the host Flyers out-hit the Matadors .350 to .216 and had 11 blocks to CSUN's eight. Behind 10 digs from both Bertozzi and libero Chris Karnezis, the Matadors posted a slim 40-39 edge in team digs.
S1 - LEWIS 25, CSUN 14 – The Matadors got off to a rough start offensively, hitting -.100 in dropping the opening set 25-14. An 8-2 run to open the match forced a CSUN timeout. The Flyer lead swelled to as many as nine as the hosts won the set going away 25-14.
S2 - CSUN 25, LEWIS 23 – The second set featured 10 ties as the Matadors led 11-8 early following a Constable ace. CSUN led by as many as four (14-10) after an Avila kill before the Flyers answered with an 8-3 run to take an 18-17 lead. The Matadors then scored three straight, capped by Constable's second ace of the frame to lead 20-18. Following a Lewis timeout, each team would score five points but CSUN had enough to claim a 25-23 win when Delibosov and Bertozzi stuffed a Lewis attack on set point.
S4 - CSUN 25, LEWIS 20 - A kill from Constable opened up an early 10-5 lead for the Matadors before the Flyers used a 10-5 run to knot the score at 15-15. CSUN claimed three straight to force Lewis' final timeout at 18-15. Another co-block from Constable and Delibosov extended the Matador lead to five at 21-16 before CSUN forced a fifth set with a 25-20 win.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"It was an exciting match that went back-and-forth. I thought we started out slow but give credit to Lewis, they did a great job putting pressure on us early. We found a way to gut it out and I thought Jalen did a tremendous job for us. He's one of those guys where you can wake a sleeping giant and I felt like he just locked in and took over."
UP NEXT
CSUN continues its two-match Midwest trip on Saturday, taking on No. 8 Loyola Chicago at Gentile Arena at 3 p.m. PT.
#GoMatadors
The Matadors improve to 15-4 overall while picking up their first five-set win of the season.
Phillips was the lone CSUN hitter in double figures, putting down 23 kills on 44 swings to hit .364. The sophomore opposite also added five digs, two blocks, and one ace on the night. Senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added eight kills (.083) and freshman Stilian Delibosov chipped in seven kills (.333) and four blocks.
CSUN overcame some hitting struggles early on to hit .216 (50-20-139) on the match. After hitting just over. 100 as a team through three sets, the Matadors hit .404 over the final two sets to come away with the win. Senior setter Donovan Constable dished out 44 assists while serving three aces. Joao Avila and Nir Eitan also added a pair of aces apiece as CSUN served 11 as a team.
For the match, the host Flyers out-hit the Matadors .350 to .216 and had 11 blocks to CSUN's eight. Behind 10 digs from both Bertozzi and libero Chris Karnezis, the Matadors posted a slim 40-39 edge in team digs.
S1 - LEWIS 25, CSUN 14 – The Matadors got off to a rough start offensively, hitting -.100 in dropping the opening set 25-14. An 8-2 run to open the match forced a CSUN timeout. The Flyer lead swelled to as many as nine as the hosts won the set going away 25-14.
S2 - CSUN 25, LEWIS 23 – The second set featured 10 ties as the Matadors led 11-8 early following a Constable ace. CSUN led by as many as four (14-10) after an Avila kill before the Flyers answered with an 8-3 run to take an 18-17 lead. The Matadors then scored three straight, capped by Constable's second ace of the frame to lead 20-18. Following a Lewis timeout, each team would score five points but CSUN had enough to claim a 25-23 win when Delibosov and Bertozzi stuffed a Lewis attack on set point.
S3 – LEWIS 25, CSUN 20 - After an Avila kill pulled the Matadors within two at 14-12, the hosts would outscore CSUN 5-2 over the next seven points to lead 19-14. A late Phillips kill pulled the Matadors within four at 23-19 but CSUN would get no closer, falling 25-20.
S4 - CSUN 25, LEWIS 20 - A kill from Constable opened up an early 10-5 lead for the Matadors before the Flyers used a 10-5 run to knot the score at 15-15. CSUN claimed three straight to force Lewis' final timeout at 18-15. Another co-block from Constable and Delibosov extended the Matador lead to five at 21-16 before CSUN forced a fifth set with a 25-20 win.
S5 - CSUN 17, LEWIS 15 - Eitan's ace off the bench gave the Matadors a 4-2 lead before the lead swelled to 6-3 following a Constable kill. After a Lewis kill trimmed the lead to 7-6, CSUN rallied behind a 4-1 run to open up an 11-7 lead. An ensuing 6-1 run by the Flyers gave the hosts a 13-12 when a kill by Hank Kaufman fueled a 5-2 CSUN run down the stretch to seal the 17-15 win.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"It was an exciting match that went back-and-forth. I thought we started out slow but give credit to Lewis, they did a great job putting pressure on us early. We found a way to gut it out and I thought Jalen did a tremendous job for us. He's one of those guys where you can wake a sleeping giant and I felt like he just locked in and took over."
UP NEXT
CSUN continues its two-match Midwest trip on Saturday, taking on No. 8 Loyola Chicago at Gentile Arena at 3 p.m. PT.
#GoMatadors
Team Stats
CSUN
Lewis
Kills
50
60
Errors
20
12
Attempts
139
137
Hitting %
.216
.350
Points
69.0
79.0
Assists
48
50
Aces
11
8
Blocks
8
11
Game Leaders
Kills
23
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
8
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
4
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's Volleyball
L
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballOPP
/ Men's VolleyballCalHOPE Award Nathan Merren
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