California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
USC
No. 16 CSUN Takes 4-Match Win Streak to Fourth-Ranked USC
2/4/2026 10:20:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #9
#16 CSUN Matadors (7-1)Â @ #4Â USC Trojans (5-0)
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
Galen Center - Los Angeles, Calif.
BIG10+
Live Stats
MATCH #10
#6 Pepperdine Waves @ #16 CSUN Matadors
Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 - 6:00 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
No. 16 CSUN takes a season-high four-match win streak into Wednesday's match at No. 4 USC. The Matadors and Trojans will meet at the Galen Center at 7 p.m., before the Matadors return to the Valley to host sixth-ranked Pepperdine on Friday at 6 p.m. CSUN extended its current winning streak to four straight with a pair of 3-0 wins at home over Fort Valley State and Edward Waters last week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Both CSUN matches this week will stream live. Wednesday's match at USC will stream on Big10+, while Friday's home match against Pepperdine will stream on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available (links at GoMatadors.com). Darren Preston will handle a majority of the play-by-play for CSUN home matches 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 (7-1) moved up to 16th in the fifth National Collegiate Poll of the 2026 season. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll, earned 136 points this week after running its win streak to four with 3-0 wins over Fort Valley State and Edward Waters last week. The Matadors, who were ranked in all 18 polls last season, have now been ranked in all five polls in 2026. CSUN 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 40 consecutive polls and 50 of the last 53 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 (8-0) remained the top-ranked team for the fifth straight week, collecting 22 of 24 first-place votes and 497 total points. Long Beach State (8-0) remained second after receiving two first-place votes and 474 points, followed by Hawai'i (10-1), USC (5-0), and UC Irvine (9-0). The Trojans earned the final first-place vote this week. The remainder of this week's top 10 includes Pepperdine (4-2), Loyola Chicago (5-3), BYU (6-2), Ball State (8-1), and UC San Diego (4-4). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Lewis (6-3), Ohio State (4-3), McKendree (5-3), Penn State (4-4), UC Santa Barbara (5-3), the Matadors (7-1), Stanford (1-6), Lindenwood (6-1), Princeton (2-3), and Lincoln Memorial (4-2).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
#4 USC (5-0) hosts a pair of Big West foes this week in No. 16 CSUN and No. 15 UC Santa Barbara. The Trojans have opened the season with five straight wins for the third straight season and are 4-0 on their home floor. USC is coming off a five-set win at home over 13th-ranked Ohio State last Friday (Jan. 30). Senior OH Dillon Klein, who averages a team-high 4.44 kills per set, led the Trojans with 20 kills against the Buckeyes. USC is hitting .383 as a team through five matches, which ranks fifth in the nation.
All-time series: Wednesday's match is the 85th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Trojans, with USC holding a 50-34 edge in the series, which dates back to 1980. The Matadors are 16-21 all-time against USC at home, but are just 13-22 in 35 matches all-time in Los Angeles. The Trojans claimed the last meeting between the two teams, winning in four sets in Northridge last season.
#6 Pepperdine (4-2) had a two-match win streak snapped in a four-set loss at home to No. 2 Long Beach State last Friday. The Waves took the second set (25-20) in the match, just the second set the Beach has dropped this season. Pepperdine out-hit Long Beach .333 to .300 as sophomore OH Cole Hartke posted a team-high 17 kills. For the season, Hartke averages a team-high 4.32 kills per set for the Waves, who are hitting .352 as a team through six matches.
All-time series: Friday's match is the 88th meeting all-time between CSUN and Pepperdine, dating back to the inaugural meeting in 1978. The Waves have won 65 of the previous 87 matches, including 29 of the 41 all-time matches in Northridge. The two teams met in Malibu last season, with the Matadors winning in four sets, which snapped a 13-match series win streak for the Waves.
ALBERS NAMED BIG WEST FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
CSUN redshirt freshman Grayson Albers was named Big West Men's Volleyball Freshman of the Week as announced by the Big West office on Monday, Feb. 2. Albers was instrumental in No. 17 CSUN picking up a pair of non-conference wins at home last week, as the Matadors swept both Fort Valley State and Edward Waters. Albers had 13 kills on 19 swings without a single hitting error out of the middle blocker spot in CSUN's two wins. In hitting .684 for the week, Albers upped his season hitting percentage to .587, which leads the nation. Albers now has 41 kills and just four errors on 63 attempts on the season. The redshirt freshman from Sacramento also added four blocks, a pair of aces, and one dig over five sets last week.
Albers is the first CSUN player to earn Big West Freshman of the Week since Jan. 13, 2025 when Stilian Delibosov earned the award. Owen Douphner was the first CSUN player to earn a player of the week honor this season after being named Big West Setter of the Week last week (Jan. 26).
CSUN TAKES ON RANKED TEAMS FOR FIRST TIME IN 2026
For the first time in 2026, CSUN will take on a team ranked in the AVCA Top 20 in No. 4 USC and No. 6 Pepperdine. Fort Valley State, which CSUN swept at home on Jan. 26, was receiving votes in the AVCA poll but was not ranked in the top 20. Last season, CSUN finished 8-10 against teams ranked in the top 20, defeating No. 5 Hawai'i (3-0), No. 8 Grand Canyon (3-1), No. 10 UC San Diego (3-2, 3-2), No. 10 Pepperdine (3-1), No.; 15 Lewis (3-2), No. 19 Princeton (3-1), and No. 20 George Mason (3-1).
CSUN IN THE BIG WEST STATS RANKINGS
In this week's Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors remained second in both kills per set (13.14) and assists per set (12.07). In other team rankings, CSUN is third in hitting percentage (.371) and is fifth in digs per set (8.18), aces per set (1.50), opponent hitting percentage (.195), and points per set (16.29). Individually, several CSUN players are currently in the top five among Big West players. Albers, the national hitting leader at .587, leads UCI's Trevor Clark, who is second in hitting at .558. Jalen Phillips ranks second this week in kills per set (3.71) and is third in points per set at 4.26, and eighth in hitting at .380, Owen Douphner moved up to second in assists per set (10.11), and also ranks 13th in aces and 14th in blocks. Joao Avila is sixth this week in digs per set (1.83).
CSUN QUICK SETS
Redshirt junior Malcolm King came off the bench against Edward Waters on Friday, his first appearance for the Matadors since April of 2024. King, a Big West All-Freshman Team selection in 2023, redshirted the 2025 season after appearing in 16 matches and 55 sets during the 2024 season ... Freshman Noah Douphner led CSUN with 10 kills (.250) against Edward Waters, his second match with double figures in kills this 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 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 50-44 (.532), Edwards was named the successor to Jeff Campbell on Dec. 9, 2022. 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 this week's road match at USC and home match vs. Pepperdine, CSUN returns to Los Angeles next week to take on top-ranked UCLA on Feb. 13. The Matadors then return home to open their second three-match homestand of the season on Feb. 18 against Lincoln Memorial.
#GoMatadors
