Saturday, April 12
La Jolla, Calif.
7:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
18-8,3-5Big West
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UC San Diego
17-9,3-5Big West
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CSUN
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39
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UC San Diego
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Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald
Career Nights From Phillips, Constable Lead to 3-2 CSUN Win at UC San Diego
4/12/2025 10:17:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
LA JOLLA, Calif. – After matching his career-high with 27 kills in CSUN's 3-2 win on Thursday, sophomore opposite Jalen Phillips capped the week with a 34-kill performance on Saturday as the No. 9 Matadors came back from two sets down to defeat 10th-ranked UC San Diego, 3-2 in a Big West match at LionTree Arena.
With the 21-25, 22-25, 25-23, 39-37, 15-11 win, the Matadors improve to 18-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big West. CSUN sweeps the season series from the Tritons for the first time since 2019 while also improving to 3-2 in five-set matches.
Phillips hit .400 on a career-high 65 swings while connecting for 26 of his 34 kills over the final three sets, including 13 in the marathon 39-37 set three win. Senior setter Donovan Constable also set a new career-high with 62 assists as CSUN hit .325 (73-23-154) in the win. The Matadors' 73 kills, 154 attacks, 70 assists, and 57 digs are all season highs.
Libero Chris Karnezis and Joao Avila each scooped up a season-high 13 digs, with Karnezis matching his career-high. Freshman Stilian Delibosov also reached double figures in kills with 13, hitting .522 on 23 attacks along with four blocks. Fellow middle Shane Nhem chipped in seven kills (.417) and a pair of blocks including one solo.
S1 - UCSD 25, CSUN 21 – The hosts claimed four of the first five points in the opening set and would never trail. CSUN closed to within two on a pair of occasions before a Constable ace pulled the Matadors within one at 11-10. The Tritons answered with a 4-1 run to take a 15-11 lead into the media timeout before CSUN again rallied back to within one (15-14) on consecutive kills by Phillips. Still leading by one at 17-16, UCSD outscored the Matadors 8-5 over the final 13 points to take a 25-21 win.
S2 - UCSD 25, CSUN 22 – After hitting .286 in set one, CSUN was out-hit .407 to .269 in the second set as the Tritons took a two-set lead. The Matadors led by three (7-4) early on before the Tritons used a 5-1 run to take their first lead at 9-8. UCSD would lead by as many as two at 15-13 before the Matadors rallied back to tie the set at 15-15. The score remained tied at 16-16, 17-17, and 18-18 when the hosts closed the set on a 7-4 run to open up a two-set lead.
S3 – CSUN 25, UCSD 23 - Behind 12 assists from Constable, the Matadors got their offense going in the third set, hitting .355 as a team. The Matadors trailed early on before a Phillips kill gave them the lead for good at 5-4. Still leading by one at 9-8, CSUN claimed four of the next six points to open up a 13-10 advantage. After UCSD rallied back to tie the score at 16-16, an Avila kill sent the Matadors on a 4-1 run that pushed the lead to three at 20-17. The Tritons would trim the deficit to one at 22-21 when kills by Phillips and Delibosov and a block by Avila and Delibosov clinched a 25-23 CSUN win.
S4 - CSUN 39, UCSD 37 - The Matadors were out-hit .304 to .267 in the marathon fourth set while also saving 11 match points. The set featured an astounding 28 ties and 12 lead changes before the Matadors pulled out a 39-27 win. Phillips tallied 13 of CSUN's 20 kills in the set including eight of the Matadors' final 11 points in the set. CSUN had set points at 25-24, 27-26, 37-26, and 38-37 when a Triton hitting error gave the Matadors the two-point win.
S5 - CSUN 15, UCSD 11 - Neither team led by more than one until a UCSD hitting error gave the Matadors a 7-5 advantage. Leading 8-6, a Constable-Delibosov block opened up a 9-6 lead forcing a Triton timeout. CSUN still led by three at 10-7 when UCSD scored twice to cut the lead to one. But the Matadors answered with a 5-2 run to close out a 15-11 win on Phillips' 34th kill of the night.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"I thought Donovan was fantastic tonight. We got out a little slow and as a team it was a bit of a struggle. It took us a couple sets to get rolling and then Donovan got the offense going. The fourth set was pretty epic, just a really high-level match overall and a lot of fun. Jalen is such a special athlete and an incredible volleyball player. I felt like he and Donovan were struggling with their connection in the first two sets and then he somehow found a gear in the fourth set and he carried us the rest of the way."
UP NEXT
The Matadors cap the regular season with a two-match set against No. 5 UC Irvine next week. CSUN travels to Irvine on Thursday before hosting the Anteaters for senior night on Saturday at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
With the 21-25, 22-25, 25-23, 39-37, 15-11 win, the Matadors improve to 18-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big West. CSUN sweeps the season series from the Tritons for the first time since 2019 while also improving to 3-2 in five-set matches.
Phillips hit .400 on a career-high 65 swings while connecting for 26 of his 34 kills over the final three sets, including 13 in the marathon 39-37 set three win. Senior setter Donovan Constable also set a new career-high with 62 assists as CSUN hit .325 (73-23-154) in the win. The Matadors' 73 kills, 154 attacks, 70 assists, and 57 digs are all season highs.
Libero Chris Karnezis and Joao Avila each scooped up a season-high 13 digs, with Karnezis matching his career-high. Freshman Stilian Delibosov also reached double figures in kills with 13, hitting .522 on 23 attacks along with four blocks. Fellow middle Shane Nhem chipped in seven kills (.417) and a pair of blocks including one solo.
S1 - UCSD 25, CSUN 21 – The hosts claimed four of the first five points in the opening set and would never trail. CSUN closed to within two on a pair of occasions before a Constable ace pulled the Matadors within one at 11-10. The Tritons answered with a 4-1 run to take a 15-11 lead into the media timeout before CSUN again rallied back to within one (15-14) on consecutive kills by Phillips. Still leading by one at 17-16, UCSD outscored the Matadors 8-5 over the final 13 points to take a 25-21 win.
S2 - UCSD 25, CSUN 22 – After hitting .286 in set one, CSUN was out-hit .407 to .269 in the second set as the Tritons took a two-set lead. The Matadors led by three (7-4) early on before the Tritons used a 5-1 run to take their first lead at 9-8. UCSD would lead by as many as two at 15-13 before the Matadors rallied back to tie the set at 15-15. The score remained tied at 16-16, 17-17, and 18-18 when the hosts closed the set on a 7-4 run to open up a two-set lead.
S3 – CSUN 25, UCSD 23 - Behind 12 assists from Constable, the Matadors got their offense going in the third set, hitting .355 as a team. The Matadors trailed early on before a Phillips kill gave them the lead for good at 5-4. Still leading by one at 9-8, CSUN claimed four of the next six points to open up a 13-10 advantage. After UCSD rallied back to tie the score at 16-16, an Avila kill sent the Matadors on a 4-1 run that pushed the lead to three at 20-17. The Tritons would trim the deficit to one at 22-21 when kills by Phillips and Delibosov and a block by Avila and Delibosov clinched a 25-23 CSUN win.
S4 - CSUN 39, UCSD 37 - The Matadors were out-hit .304 to .267 in the marathon fourth set while also saving 11 match points. The set featured an astounding 28 ties and 12 lead changes before the Matadors pulled out a 39-27 win. Phillips tallied 13 of CSUN's 20 kills in the set including eight of the Matadors' final 11 points in the set. CSUN had set points at 25-24, 27-26, 37-26, and 38-37 when a Triton hitting error gave the Matadors the two-point win.
S5 - CSUN 15, UCSD 11 - Neither team led by more than one until a UCSD hitting error gave the Matadors a 7-5 advantage. Leading 8-6, a Constable-Delibosov block opened up a 9-6 lead forcing a Triton timeout. CSUN still led by three at 10-7 when UCSD scored twice to cut the lead to one. But the Matadors answered with a 5-2 run to close out a 15-11 win on Phillips' 34th kill of the night.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"I thought Donovan was fantastic tonight. We got out a little slow and as a team it was a bit of a struggle. It took us a couple sets to get rolling and then Donovan got the offense going. The fourth set was pretty epic, just a really high-level match overall and a lot of fun. Jalen is such a special athlete and an incredible volleyball player. I felt like he and Donovan were struggling with their connection in the first two sets and then he somehow found a gear in the fourth set and he carried us the rest of the way."
UP NEXT
The Matadors cap the regular season with a two-match set against No. 5 UC Irvine next week. CSUN travels to Irvine on Thursday before hosting the Anteaters for senior night on Saturday at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
Team Stats
CSUN
UCSD
Kills
73
74
Errors
23
23
Attempts
154
162
Hitting %
.325
.315
Points
82.0
88.0
Assists
70
72
Aces
2
4
Blocks
7
10
Game Leaders
Kills
34
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
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/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's Volleyball
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/ Men's VolleyballOPP
/ Men's VolleyballOPP
/ Men's VolleyballCalHOPE Award Nathan Merren
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