California State University at Northridge
Long Island
16th-Ranked CSUN Hosts Long Island in 2026 Home Opener
1/21/2026 9:02:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #6
LIU Sharks (1-1)Â @ #16Â CSUN Matadors (4-1)
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUNÂ Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
After a five-match road swing to open the 2026 season, 16th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball (4-1, 0-0 Big West) is back inside Premier America Credit Union Arena this week to open a three-match homestand against Long Island. The Matadors will take on the Sharks in their 2026 home opener on Wednesday with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m.Â
After winning three matches at the season-opening UCSB Asics Invitational two weeks ago, CSUN traveled to the Midwest for the 2026 Under Armour Challenge last week. The then-No. 12 Matadors dropped their opener to Lindenwood in four sets before bouncing back with a four-set win over Purdue Fort Wayne.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
CSUN's home opener against Long Island will stream live on ESPN+ and the match will also 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. Preston will be joined by Aquiles Montoya, CSUN Women's Volleyball head coach and former player at Grand Canyon for select broadcasts.
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 (@Â GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNMensVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
CSUN RANKED 16TH IN LATEST AVCA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (4-1) slipped to 16th in the third National Collegiate Poll of the 2026 season. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll, earned 139 points this week after splitting two matches at the Under Armour Challenge. The Matadors, who were ranked in all 18 polls last season, have now been ranked in all three polls in 2026. CSUN finished in the top 10 in the final poll of the 2025, the Matadors' first top 10 final ranking since 2018.Â
Since reclaiming a spot in the AVCA national poll in 2023, CSUN has been ranked in the top 20 in 38 consecutive polls and 48 of the last 51 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.Â
UCLA (4-0) remained the top-ranked team for the third straight week, collecting 20 of 24 first-place votes and 495 total points. Long Beach State (5-0) remained second after receiving three first-place votes and 475 points followed by Hawai'i (7-1), USC (3-0) and UC Irvine (5-0). The Trojans earned the lone remaining first place vote. The remainder of this week's top 10 includes Pepperdine (2-1), Loyola Chicago (2-2), BYU (4-0), Lewis (4-1), and Penn State (4-0). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes UC San Diego (3-2), Ball State (4-1), Ohio State (3-1), Stanford (0-3), McKendree (2-2), the Matadors (4-1), UC Santa Barbara (4-0), Princeton (0-2), Lindenwood (3-1), and Charleston (2-1).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Long Island (1-1) picked up its first win of the season last Thursday, defeating Dominican University 3-1 in Orangeburg, NY. The Sharks opened the season with a straight-set loss to St. Thomas Aquinas at home on Jan. 13. Freshman Ike Vernon, who earned NEC Player and Rookie of the Week honors, led LIU with 18 kills in the win over Dominican. Kale Spencer added 17 kills and five aces. The Sharks, who play at The Master's on Friday and No. 2 Long Beach State on Saturday, are hitting .252 as a team through two matches.Â
All-time series: Wednesday's match is the first-ever meeting between CSUN and LIU in men's volleyball. The Matadors are 4-1 all-time against teams from the Northeast Conference with three wins over St. Francis, one over FDU, and a five-set loss to Daemen in 2023.
CSUN SPLITS TWO MATCHES AT UNDERÂ ARMOUR CHALLENGE
After opening the 2026 Under Armour Challenge with its first loss of the season, 3-1 to Lindenwood, CSUN bounced back with a 3-1 win over Purdue Fort Wayne to split the weekend in Missouri. The Matadors set season highs in numerous categories in the win over the Mastodons, including kills (54), assists (53), and blocks (10.5). CSUN also matched its season-high in digs with 37.
CSUN is now 3-1 in the two seasons of the UA Challenge, finishing 2-0 at the tournament it hosted in 2025. Last year's tournament 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).
SEVERAL MATADORS SHINE IN MISSOURI
After junior Jalen Phillips led CSUN with a season-high 19 kills in Friday's match at Lindenwood, the Matadors were forced to go to other offensive options in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne due to injuries. Freshman Noah Douphner stepped in for Phillips against the Mastodons and pounded a match-high 17 kills, hitting .314 on 35 attacks. Junior Jordan Lucas also had an impressive weekend, posting 17 kills over two matches, hitting .294 on 34 swings. Redshirt freshman Grayson Albers made his first start at middle blocker and had eight kills on 12 swings to hit .583 in the win over PFW. Junior libero Chris Karnezis also made his 2026 debut against Purdue Fort Wayne, scooping up seven digs while flawlessly handling 17 PFW serves.
CSUN EARLY BIG WEST RANKS
In the early season Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors rank as high as fourth in kills per set (12.42), assists per set (11.32), and digs per set (8.37). CSUN is also fifth in both hitting percentage (.322) and opponent hitting percentage (.195), The Matadors round out the week sixth in three other categories. Individually, several CSUN players are currently in the top five among Big West players. Albers ranks second this week in hitting at .500. Phillips is fourth in kills per set (3.27), Owen Douphner is fourth in assists per set (9.39), and Joao Avila is fourth in digs per set (2.06). Albers also appears in the top 10 in aces (8th), while Avila is also 16th in hitting percentage and 20th in aces.
CSUN QUICK SETS
In just three seasons, Phillips is quickly closing in on 1,000 career kills. With 19 kills against Lindenwood, Phillips now has 832 career kills while averaging 3.73 kills per set. Phillips begins the third week of the season needing 168 kills to become the 16th player in CSUN men's volleyball history with 1,000 career kills. The last Matador to reach the milestone was Phillips' teammate Kyle Hobus who finished his CSUN career with 1,173 kills to rank 12th in CSUN history ... Sophomore Joao Favarim reached 100 career kills with his second put-away against Purdue Fort Wayne. Favarim now has 103 kills in his Matador career, hitting .386 with 103 kills and 30 errors on 189 attacks ...Â
CSUN heads into Wednesday's match with a 35-13 (.729) record all-time in home openers. The Matadors have won five straight home openers dating back to their last loss in 2020 (3-0 to No. 10 Purdue Fort Wayne). With their 3-1 win over Maryville, 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 CSUNÂ 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 with a career record of 47-44 (.516), 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 Wednesday's match, which opens a three-match homestand, CSUN welcomes a pair of first-time opponents to Northridge next week. The Matadors host Fort Valley State next Monday (Jan. 26) and Edward Waters on Friday (Jan. 30).
#GoMatadors
