California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Fort Valley State
#17 CSUN Concludes Three-Match Homestand vs. FVSU, EWU
1/26/2026 3:30:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #7
Fort Valley State Wildcats (1-3) @ #17 CSUN Matadors (5-1)
Monday, Jan. 26, 2026Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #8
Edward Waters Tigers @ #17 CSUN Matadors
Friday, Jan. 30, 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 opening the home schedule with a 3-0 win over LIU last week, 17th-ranked CSUN Men's Volleyball (5-1, 0-0 Big West) wraps up its three-match homestand this week, facing Fort Valley State on Monday and Edward Waters University on Friday. First serve for both matches inside Premier America Credit Union Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.Â
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
CSUN's two matches this week will stream live on ESPN+ and the matches will also have live stats available (links at GoMatadors.com). Darren Preston will handle 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 (@ GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNMensVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
CSUNÂ RANKED 17TH IN LATESTÂ AVCAÂ MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (5-1) are ranked 17th in the fourth National Collegiate Poll of the 2026 season. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll, earned 123 points this week after winning its season opener in straight sets over LIU last week. The Matadors, who were ranked in all 18 polls last season, have now been ranked in all four 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 39 consecutive polls and 49 of the last 52 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 (6-0) remained the top-ranked team for the fourth straight week, collecting 21 of 24 first-place votes and 496 total points. Long Beach State (7-0) remained second after receiving two first-place votes and 474 points followed by Hawai'i (7-1), USC (4-0) and UC Irvine (7-0). The Trojans and Anteaters earned the other two first place votes. The remainder of this week's top 10 includes Pepperdine (4-1), Loyola Chicago (3-3), BYU (4-2), Lewis (5-2), and Ball State (6-1). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes McKendree (4-2), UC San Diego (3-2), Ohio State (4-1), Penn State (4-2), UC Santa Barbara (5-1), Stanford (1-4), the Matadors (5-1), Lindenwood (4-1), Princeton (0-3), Concordia (3-2), and Lindenwood (3-2).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Fort Valley State (1-3) has dropped three straight after opening the season with a 3-1 win over Queens University of Charlotte on Jan. 11. Monday's match at CSUN caps a four-match trip to the West Coast for the Wildcats who have lost at UCLA (3-0), Long Beach State (3-0) and USC (3-0). Senior OH Isaiah Fedd leads FVSU, who had 18 kills on .406 hitting against Queens, leads the Wildcats averaging 3.33 kills per set. The Wildcats finished 18-10 last season, winning the SIAC, and earned the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament.
All-time series: Monday's match is the first-ever meeting between CSUN and Fort Valley State in men's volleyball.
Edward Waters (1-2) picked up its first win of the season on Friday (Jan. 23), defeating Webber International (FL) in four sets. The Tigers opened the season with losses to Queens University (3-0) and Barton College (3-1) in Charlotte, NC. Freshman OPP De'Aundre Williams had nine kills and three blocks against Queens University to lead EWU, which was picked second in the SIAC Preseason Poll.
All-time series: Friday's match is also the first-ever meeting between CSUN and Edward Waters University in men's volleyball.
DOUPHNER NAMED SETTER OF THE WEEK
Redshirt sophomore Owen Douphner earned CSUN's first men's volleyball player of the week award for 2026 after being named Big West Setter of the Week on Jan. 26. Douphner, a redshirt sophomore setter from Stevenson Ranch, led CSUN to a three-set win over Long Island in its 2026 home opener last week. He led the Matador hitters to a .463 hitting clip (46-9-80) as five CSUN hitters hit .444 or better. Douphner wound up with 32 assists along with a season-high five kills on six errorless swings (.833), seven digs, two blocks, and one ace.Â
Douphner becomes the first Matador to win a Big West weekly award this season and is the first CSUN setter to earn the award since Donovan Constable claimed three Big West Setter of the Week awards during the 2025 season.
CSUN SWEEPS LIU TO OPEN HOME SEASON
Jalen Phillips and Jordan Lucas combined for 22 kills to lead No. 16 CSUN to a straight-set victory over LIU on Tuesday night, as the Matadors rolled to a 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 non-conference win. CSUN (5-1) was sharp from the opening serve, hitting .463 as a team while piling up 46 kills and 45 assists. Phillips led all hitters in the match with 12 kills on 22 swings (.455), while Lucas added 10 kills on 22 attacks (.444). Sophomore Joao Avila added eight kills (.235), five digs, and one ace and redshirt freshman Grayson Albers chipped in six kills on eight errorless swings to hit .750.
MATADORS IMPROVE TO 36-13 ALL-TIME IN HOME OPENERS
After sweeping LIU last Wednesday in its 2026 home opener, CSUN improved to 36-13 (.735) all-time in home openers. The Matadors have now won six 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).
CSUN IN THE BIG WEST STATS RANKINGS
In the early season Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors moved up to second this week in both kills per set (12.82) and assists per set (11.82). In other team rankings, CSUN is third in digs per set (8.50), fourth in hitting percentage (.341), fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.199) and points per set (16.00) and are sixth in aces (1.41) and blocks (1.77). Individually, several CSUN players are currently in the top five among Big West players. Albers continues to rank second this week in hitting at .545, while Phillips moved up to third in kills per set (3.43), Owen Douphner is fourth in assists per set (9.57), and Joao Avila is fourth in digs per set (2.00), 14th in hitting percentage (.321), and 18th in both kills per set (2.05) and aces per set (0.30).
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.
CSUN QUICK SETS
In just three seasons, Phillips is quickly closing in on 1,000 career kills. With a team-high 12 kills against LIU last Wednesday, Phillips now has 844 career kills while averaging 3.73 kills per set. Phillips begins the fourth week of the season needing 156 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 on Jan. 17). Favarim now has 108 kills in his Matador career, hitting .389 with 108 kills and 31 errors on 198 attacks.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following home matches against Fort Valley State on Monday and Edward Waters on Friday (Jan. 30), CSUN travels to Los Angeles next Wednesday (Feb. 4) to meet No. 4 USC at the Galen Center at 7 p.m. The match against the Trojans opens up a stretch that has CSUN taking on teams ranked among the AVCA top six over the next three weeks. The Matadors will host No. 6 Pepperdine on Feb. 6, before returning to Los Angeles to meet top-ranked UCLA on Feb. 13.
#GoMatadors
