California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
18th-Ranked CSUN Returns to Big West Play vs. No. 3 Long Beach State
3/25/2026 2:34:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #19 (BIG WEST #3)
#3 Long Beach State (14-4, 0-2 Big West) @ #18 CSUN Matadors (12-6, 0-2 Big West)
Friday, Mar. 27, 2026Â - 6:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #20Â (BIG WEST #4)
#18Â CSUN Matadors @Â #3 Long Beach State
Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid - Long Beach, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUNÂ Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
After wrapping up the non-conference season last week, No. 18 CSUN (12-6, 0-2 Big West) returns to Big West action this week against No. 3 Long Beach on Friday and Saturday (Mar. 27-28). The Matadors and Beach will square off Friday at 6 p.m. at Premier America Credit Union Arena before heading down the 405 on Saturday for a 7 p.m. first serve at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid. CSUN concluded an impressive 12-4 non-conference season with a 3-1 win over visiting Jessup University last week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Both matches against Long Beach State will stream live on ESPN+ and will have live stats (links at GoMatadors.com). Darren Preston and Cooper Hopkins will be on the call for Friday's match, while Hopkins will call CSUN's final two home matches of the season against UC Santa Barbara (Apr. 4) and UC Irvine (Apr. 11).
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 (@ GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNMensVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
CSUN RANKED 18TH IN LATEST AVCA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (12-6) slipped to 18th in this week's National Collegiate Poll. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll of the season, earned 98 points this week after defeating Jessup in four sets last week. The Matadors have now been ranked in all 12 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 now been ranked in the top 20 for 47 consecutive polls and 57 of the last 60 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 (18-0) remained the top-ranked team for the 12th straight week, collecting all 25 first-place votes and 500 total points. Hawai'i (19-3) moved into second after receiving 473 points, followed by Long Beach State (14-4), USC (12-3), and UC Irvine (13-3). The remainder of this week's top 10 includes Pepperdine (15-4), Ball State (18-3), UC Santa Barbara (10-7), BYU (17-6), and Loyola Chicago (14-6). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Lindenwood (17-3), McKendree (14-7), UC San Diego (11-7), Stanford (9-8), Ohio State (12-9), Lewis (14-10), Penn State (11-7), the Matadors (12-6), NJIT (13-6), and Purdue Fort Wayne (9-8).
SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE
#3 Long Beach State (14-4, 0-2 Big West) had its five-match winning streak snapped with a pair losses at home to No. 3 Hawai'i last weekend. The Beach, who also have two losses to No. 1 UCLA, come into the week hitting .350 as a team, which ranks second in the Big West. The Beach leads the Big West in aces and blocking and is holding opponents to a .215 hitting clip. Individually, Skyler Varga ranks sixth in the Big West in kills per set (3.17), while Alex Kandev leads the Big West in aces at 0.64 per set.
All-time series: The two matches this week mark the 94th and 95th meetings all-time between the Matadors and the Beach. Long Beach State, which is riding a 10-match win streak over the Matadors, holds a 60-33 lead in the all-time series and claimed both matches in 2025 (3-0 in Long Beach, 3-0 in Northridge).
PHILLIPS REACHES 1,000 CAREER KILLS
With his 13th kill in a 19-kill effort against Jessup, junior opposite Jalen Phillips became the 16th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. Phillips into ninth place on the CSUN Rally Scoring era kills list, and now trails eighth-place Isaac Kneubuhl (2005-08) by 23 kills. Kneubuhl had 1,029 kills in 427 sets, while Phillips has 1,006 kills in just 265 sets.
Phillips also maintained the Big West lead in kills per set this week at 3.96. Phillips, who has held the conference lead for the past month-plus, has a team-high 210 kills over 53 sets this season. At 3.96 kps, Phillips leads second-place George Bruening of UC Santa Barbara (3.80) and third-place Andrej Jankovic (3.53) this week. Phillips, who also leads the Big West points per set at 4.59, remained seventh in hitting percentage (.346) and is also 16th in blocks per set (0.72). In the national statistics, he ranks eighth in points (4.59), ninth in kills (3.90), 26th in hitting percentage (.346), 26th in attacks per set (7.91), and 90th in blocks per set (0.72).
MATADORS CLAIM 12 NON-CONFERENCE WINS
CSUN improved to 12-4 in non-conference play in 2026 with Thursday's 3-1 win over Jessup. All four of CSUN's non-conference losses this season came against ranked teams (Lindenwood, Pepperdine, USC, UCLA). The Matadors are now 45-23 (.662) in non-conference matches under Theo Edwards. Last season, the Matadors finished the non-conference portion of the season with a 13-5 record.
CSUN QUICK SETS
45 team digs against Jessup is a team season-high ... Owen Douphner posted his first career double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs in CSUN's 3-1 win over Jessup ... Joao Avila set a new career-high with 27 swings and Hank Kaufman had a career-high nine digs against Jessup.
CSUN IN THE BIG WEST STATS RANKINGS
In this week's Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors remained second in both kills per set at 12.84 and assists per set at 11.95. CSUN, which remained third this week in hitting percentage (.349), is also fourth in digs per set (7.81) and opponent hitting percentage (.228), fifth in points per set (16.00), and sixth in aces per set (1.16) and blocks per set (2.00). Individually, in addition to Phillips, Jordan Lucas ranks eighth in hitting percentage (.324), 11th in kills per set (2.81), and 14th in points per set (3.11). Owen Douphner remains second in assists per set (10.03), and is also 12th in digs per set (1.33) and 20th in blocks per set (0.65). Grayson Albers, who ranks 20th in aces per set (0.25), is hitting .586 this season, which would lead the nation with enough attempts to qualify. UC Irvine's Trevor Clark is currently leading the nation at .543.
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 an 0-2 regular season record in 2026, the Matadors are 18-54 (.250) in 72 Big West matches over eight-plus 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 55-49 (.529) 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 this week's home-and-home series with No. 3 Long Beach State, CSUN will open the homestretch of the regular season with home-and-home series' against No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (Apr. 2-4) and UC Irvine (Apr. 9-11), before closing the regular season with two matches at No. 3 Hawai'i (Apr. 17-18).
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