California State University at Northridge
Lindenwood
#12 CSUN Travels to the Midwest for 2026 Under Armour Challenge
1/14/2026 10:37:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK - UNDER ARMOUR CHALLENGE
MATCH #1 (SEASON MATCH #4)
#12 CSUN Matadors (3-0) @ Lindenwood Lions (1-1)
Friday, Jan. 16, 2026Â - 5:00Â p.m. PT
Hyland Arena - St. Charles, Mo.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #2 (SEASON MATCH #5)
#12Â CSUN Matadors vs. Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 - 2:00 p.m. PT
Hyland Arena - St. Charles, Mo.
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUNÂ Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
The 12th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball (3-0, 0-0 Big West) continues its season-opening five-match road trip this week, traveling to St. Charles, Mo., for the 2026 Under Armour Challenge. The Matadors will take on the host Lindenwood Lions in the opener on Friday at 5 p.m. PT before meeting Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday at 2 p.m. Menlo College, coached by former Matador Ali'i Keohohou, is the fourth team in the tournament this weekend.Â
CSUN hosted the inaugural Under Armour Challenge in 2025 that featured the Matadors, Lindenwood, Purdue Fort Wayne, and UC San Diego. CSUN came away 2-0 with a 3-0 win over the Mastodons and a 3-1 victory over the Lions. UC San Diego also won both of its matches, defeating Lindenwood (3-1) and Purdue Fort Wayne (3-0).
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
CSUN's opening match against Lindenwood will stream live on ESPN+ and both matches this week will have live stats available (links at GoMatadors.com). CSUN home matches this season will also stream live on the ESPN+ platform with Darren Preston handling a majority of the play-by-play in 2026.Â
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 RANKED 12TH IN LATEST AVCA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (3-0) slipped one spot to 12th in the second National Collegiate Poll of the 2026 season. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll, earned 237 points this week after winning all three matches at the UCSB Asics Invitational. The Matadors finished in the top 10 in the final poll of the 2025, CSUN's first top 10 final ranking since 2018. The Matadors, who were ranked in all 18 polls last season, have now been ranked in both polls in 2026.
Since reclaiming a spot in the AVCA national poll in 2023, CSUN has been ranked in the top 20 in 37 consecutive polls and 47 of the last 50 AVCA national polls since the 2023 season. CSUN has been a fixture in the national polls historically, having 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.
UCLA (2-0) remained the top-ranked team for the second straight week, collecting 20 of 24 first-place votes and 495 total points. Long Beach State (2-0) moved up to second after receiving four first-place votes and 473 points followed by Hawai'i (3-1), Pepperdine (2-0) and USC (1-0). The Trojans earned the lone remaining first place vote. The remainder of this week's top 10 includes Loyola Chicago (1-1), UC Irvine (3-0), BYU (2-0), Lewis (2-0), and UC San Diego (3-0). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Stanford (0-1), the Matadors (3-0), Ohio State (2-0), Penn State (2-0), McKendree (0-2), Ball State (3-0), UC Santa Barbara (3-0), Princeton (0-0), Lincoln Memorial (2-0), and George Mason (0-1).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Lindenwood (1-1) split its season opening trip to the West Coast last week, sweeping Vanguard in Costa Mesa after dropping its season opener at #3 Long Beach State (3-0). Junior opposite Luke Kraft led the Lions with a match-high 13 kills on a .545 hitting in the win after posting seven kills (.053) against the Beach. Lindenwood is hitting .213 as a team after two matches.
All-time series: Friday's match marks the sixth meeting all-time between the Matadors and Lions since the series began in 2016. CSUN holds a slim 3-2 edge in the series after taking a four-set decision in Northridge last season. The Matadors have dropped their previous two matches at Lindenwood; falling 3-1 and 3-2 in back-to-back matches in 2020.
Purdue Fort Wayne (1-1) also split the opening week of the season, falling to Missouri S&T (302) and defeating NJIT (3-2) at home. Owen Banner and Carlo Huisden combined for 43 of the Mastodons' 67 kills in the win over NJIT. Huisden had 22 kills on 36 swings to hit .472 hitting to lead PFW. The Mastodons are hitting .335 as a team after two matches.
All-time series: Saturday's match is the 16th meeting all-time between CSUN and Purdue Fort Wayne with the Matadors holding a 12-3 edge in the series. CSUN has won three of the last four matches between the two teams, winning in straight sets in Northridge last season along with a five-set win in Fort Wayne in 2019 and a four-set win at the UCSB Asics Invitational in 2017. The Matadors are 4-1 all-time against PFW on neutral courts.
CSUN FINISHES 3-0 AT UCSB ASICS INVITATIONAL
With wins over Maryville (3-1), Harvard (3-1), and Kentucky State (3-0), the Matadors finished with an unblemished 3-0 record for the second straight year at the UCSB Asics Invitational. This years tournament marked CSUN's 25th appearance in the tournament in the last 29 years. The Matadors improved to 59-37 (.615) all-time in the tournament dating back to 2001. Last season, CSUN also finished 3-0 in the tournament with wins over Tusculum (3-0), Missouri S&T (3-0), and Menlo (3-1).Â
In the tournament that dates back to 1965, the Matadors won their first-ever UCSB Invitational championship in 2009 after upsetting No. 2 UCLA (3-1) and defeating No. 14 UCSB (3-1) and No. 8 Stanford (3-1). The Matadors then won their second straight crown in 2010 topping UCSB (3-1), California Baptist (3-1), and BYU (3-1).
MATADOR DEBUTS
CSUN saw five players make his Matador debut over three matches in Santa Barbara. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Owen Douphner made his first CSUN start while playing in a match for the first time since 2024. Douphner posted 83 assists (8.30 aps) and led the Matadors with six aces. Redshirt freshman Grayson Albers knocked down his first collegiate kill in his debut against Maryville before earning his first collegiate start against Kentucky State, leading CSUN with 10 kills on .714 hitting. Redshirt junior Jordan Lucas also debuted against Kentucky State and put down six kills on six swings off the bench. Other debuts included Santiago Mendoza, Noah Douphner, and Logan Spencer, all coming in the win over Kentucky State.
CSUN QUICK SETS
Owen Douphner and Shane Nhem were selected to the UCSB Asics Invitational All-Tournament Team. Douphner posted an impressive all-around stat line with 83 assists, nine kills, six aces, 11 digs, and seven blocks. The redshirt sophomore also hit .350 on 20 attacks over two-plus matches. Nhem had 14 kills and committed just a single hitting error on 26 swings to hit .500 in the tournament. Nhem also added six digs and three blocks in his time on the court ... All-American Jalen Phillips was limited by illness in Santa Barbara but still contributed 17 kills in CSUN's opening two wins ... The Matadors improved to 29-21 (.580) in 50 season openers dating back to 1977. CSUN snapped a string of five straight season-opening losses with a 3-0 win over Tusculum last season and have now won consecutive season openers for the first time since 2018-19 when CSUN defeated Saint Francis (2018) and 12th-ranked Concordia Irvine (2019).
MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST Â
The 2026 season marks CSUN's ninth as a member of the Big West in men's volleyball. With a 3-7 regular season record in 2025, the Matadors are 18-52 (.257) in 70 Big West matches over eight 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, 2024, and 2025, 2-8 in 2021 and 1-9 in both 2022 and 2023. 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 FOURTHÂ SEASON AS CSUN'S HEAD COACH
Theo Edwards is in his fourth season as CSUN's head coach in 2026 after leading the Matadors back into the AVCA national rankings in his first three seasons. Now in his 16th 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) in 2023 and the Matadors have steadily improved in each of Edwards' three seasons. CSUN finished 13-16 in 2024 and 18-11 in 2025. Under Edwards' leadership, CSUN earned a No. 7 national ranking on Mar. 10 of the 2025 season, its highest national ranking in seven seasons. The Matadors finished the 2025 season with a No. 9 national ranking, also its best since 2018.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following this week's matches at the UA Challenge, the Matadors will return to Northridge to open the 2026 home season against Long Island on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The match opens a three-match homestand for CSUN which also includes Fort Valley State on Jan. 26, and Edward Waters University on Jan. 30.
#GoMatadors
