California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Cal Lutheran
No. 17 CSUN Hosts Cal Lutheran to Conclude Homestand
2/25/2026 3:20:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #14
Cal Lutheran Kingsmen (14-3) @ #17 CSUN Matadors (9-4)
Friday, Feb. 27, 2026Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUNÂ Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
No. 17 CSUN (9-4) caps a three-match homestand this Friday, welcoming Cal Lutheran to Premier America Credit Union Arena at 6 p.m. The Matadors are 2-0 on the homestand while improving to 5-1 at home this season after sweeping No. 19 Lincoln Memorial and UC Merced last week. Friday's match against the Kingsmen is CSUN's last match before opening the Big West season next Tuesday (Mar. 3) at No. UC San Diego.Â
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Friday's match against Cal Lutheran will have live stats only (links at GoMatadors.com). Darren Preston, who handles a majority of the play-by-play for CSUN home matches, will return for the Mar. 11 match against Princeton. 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 online 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.
CSUNÂ REMAINSÂ 17TH IN LATESTÂ AVCAÂ MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (9-4) remained 17th for the third straight week in the eighth National Collegiate Poll of the 2026 season. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll of the season, earned 120 points this week after sweeping both No. 19 Lincoln Memorial and UC Merced last week. The Matadors have now been ranked in all eight polls in 2026. CSUN, which was ranked in all 18 polls last season, finished in the top 10 in the final poll of the 2025 season, 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 for 43 consecutive polls and 53 of the last 56 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 (12-0) remained the top-ranked team for the eighth straight week, collecting all 25 first-place votes and 500 total points. Long Beach State (9-2) remained second after receiving 467 points, followed by Hawai'i (12-1), UC Irvine (12-1), and USC (8-1). The remainder of this week's top 10 includes BYU (13-2), Pepperdine (8-3), Loyola Chicago (8-4), UC San Diego (8-4) and Ball State (13-2). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Lindenwood (10-2), UC Santa Barbara (8-5), Ohio State (9-4), McKendree (6-7), Lewis (9-6), Penn State (10-4), the Matadors (9-4), Stanford (5-8), NJIT (10-5), and Purdue Fort Wayne (8-4).
SCOUTING THE KINGSMEN
Cal Lutheran (14-3), ranked fifth in this week's AVCA Div. III poll, has won eight of its last 10 and 14 of its first 17 matches to open the season. CLU split a two-match trip to the Midwest last week, falling 3-1 to No. 5 Carthage before bouncing back with a sweep over Lakeland. The Kingsmen have played one other Div. I team this season, falling in four sets at home to UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 5. Junior OH Brendan Hom, a transfer from Lewis, leads CLU averaging 3.31 kills per set on .332 hitting.
All-time series: Friday's match is the 11th meeting all-time between CSUN and Cal Lutheran with the Matadors winning all previous 10 matches in straight sets. The Matadors and Kingsmen have played nine times in Northridge - the last time in 2025 - and once in Thousand Oaks (2019) since the inaugural meeting in 2016.
PHILLIPS MAINTAINS BIG WEST KILLS LEAD
CSUN junior opposite Jalen Phillips, who took over as the Big West leader in kills per set two weeks ago, saw his season kills average dip to 3.82 but maintained the conference lead. With 130 kills over 34 sets, Phillips leads second-place Sebastiano Sani of UC San Diego, who opens the week at 3.64 kills per set. Phillips is also second in the Big West points per set at 4.43 in seventh in hitting percentage at .360. This week, he ranks 11th nationally in kills per set, 13th in points per set, 25th in hitting percentage, and 40th in attacks per set (7.59).
Phillips is quickly closing in on the CSUN Rally Scoring era top 10 in both kills and attempts. With 926 career kills, he is just 52 kills from Kevin McKniff (2007-10) and 10th place in kills, and is 29 attacks behind Joe Nargi (2001-03) and 10th place in career attempts. With 74 more kills this season, Phillips will become the 16th player in program history with 1,000 kills.
CSUN EARNS A PAIR OF BIG WEST WEEKLY AWARDS
The Matadors picked up a pair of Big West weekly awards this week, as Phillips was named Offensive Player of the Week and Grayson Albers earned his second Freshman of the Week honor of the 2026 season. The two awards mark the fourth and fifth Big West weekly accolades CSUN has earned in 2026. Phillips becomes the second Matador in the last three weeks to take home Offensive Player of the Week honors after Jordan Lucas earned the award on Feb. 9.Â
Phillips, who is now a four-time Big West Offensive Player of the Week in his career, picked up the award for the first time since Apr. 14 of the 2025 season.
MATADORS PICK UP FIRST RANKED WIN
CSUN claimed its first win over a ranked team when it swept No. 19 Lincoln Memorial last Wednesday (Feb. 18). The Matadors are now 1-3 against ranked teams this season with losses to No. 4 USC (3-2), No. 6 Pepperdine (3-0), and No. 1 UCLA (3-0). CSUN also recorded a 3-0 win over Fort Valley State which was just outside the top 20 but receiving votes in the Jan. 19 poll. As of this week, the Matadors will face at least 10 more ranked teams the remainder of the season as all five other Big West teams are ranked in the AVCA Top 20 this week.
CSUN IN THE BIG WEST STATS RANKINGS
In this week's Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors remained second in kills per set at 12.91 and hitting percentage at .363. CSUN is also third in assists per set this week at 11.93. In other team rankings, the Matadors are fourth in points per set (16.23), fifth in digs per set (7.76), aces per set (1.42), and opponent hitting percentage (.228), and sixth in blocks per set (1.90).
Individually, in addition to Phillips, Jordan Lucas ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.360), eighth in kills per set (3.23), 11th in points per set (3.60), and 18th in digs per set (1.29). Grayson Albers remains second this week in hitting (.533), and is 18th in both aces per set (0.30) and blocks per set (0.70), and 19th in points per set (2.47). Owen Douphner remains second in assists per set (10.00), and is also 17th in digs per set (1.30), and 18th in aces per set (0.30). Albers is 11th in aces per set (0.36) and 18th in points per set (2.56).
CSUN QUICK SETS
Sophomore Joao Avila opens the week needing just three kills for 200 in his CSUN career ... CSUN has out-hit 11 of its first 14 opponents this season. The only teams to out-hit the Matadors this season have been UCLA (.403-.241), Pepperdine (.491-.203), and Lindenwood (.347-.295) .. The six teams in the Big West have posted a collective record of 58-17 (.773) through the first seven weeks of the season.
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 EARNS 50TH WIN AS CSUN HEAD COACH
Theo Edwards earned the 50th win of his CSUN career when the Matadors swept Edward Waters on Jan. 30. Edwards is in his fourth season as head coach in 2026 (16th season at CSUNÂ overall) after leading the Matadors back into the AVCA national rankings in his first three seasons. Named the successor to Jeff Campbell on Dec. 9, 2022, Edwards owns a career record of 52-47 (.525) in his fourth season. CSUN finished 12-16 in Edwards's first season (1-9 in the Big West) in 2023 and the Matadors have steadily improved in each of Edwards's 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 their best since 2018.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Friday's match against Cal Lutheran (Feb. 27), CSUN opens Big West play at No. 10 UC San Diego (Mar. 3) before returning to Northridge to open a season-long, four-match homestand against Princeton on Mar. 11.
#GoMatadors
