No. 18 CSUN Pushes Third-Ranked Long Beach State in Five-Set Loss

Friday, March 27

Northridge, Calif.

6:00 PM

California State University at Northridge

12-7,0-3Big West

Long Beach State

15-4,1-2Big West

Long Beach St.

CSUN

Photo by: Connor Clark

No. 18 CSUN Pushes Third-Ranked Long Beach State in Five-Set Loss

3/27/2026 8:58:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Junior Jalen Phillips led all hitters with 21 kills as 18th-ranked CSUN pushed No. 3 Long Beach State to five sets before falling 25-20, 20-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-11 in a Big West match on Friday at Premier America Credit Union Arena.

The Matadors (12-7, 0-3 Big West) rallied after dropping the first set, using a balanced offensive effort to claim the second and third frames and take a 2-1 lead in the match. CSUN hit .367 in the second set and followed with 14 kills in the third to seize momentum. The Matadors limited the Beach to an .083 hitting clip in taking the third set, 25-21.

Long Beach State (15-4, 1-2 Big West) responded by hitting .478 in the fourth to force a fifth and deciding set, then closed the match with a .692 hitting percentage in the final frame.

Phillips led all hitters with 21 kills, hitting .381 on a match-high 42 swings. Redshirt sophomore Hank Kaufman added 13 kills on 22 errorless attacks to hit .591. Senior middle Shane Nhen chipped in eight kills (.375) and shared team-high honors with four blocks. Setter Owen Douphner finished with 46 assists as the Matadors hit .322 as a team.

Neither team would lead by more than one in the fifth set when Long Beach State took advantage of a CSUN hitting error and a Jackson Cryst kill to open up an 11-9 cushion. After a Long Beach service error pulled the Matadors within 11-10, the Beach closed the match on a 4-1 run, highlighted by back-to-back service aces by Daniil Hershtynovich to claim the 15-11 win.

Despite the loss, the Matadors out-blocked the Beach 9.0 to 8.0, while Long Beach had 26 team digs to 22 for CSUN in a match that featured 41 tie scores and 14 lead changes.

HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
"I thought the team played hard. There were a couple of sets there where I thought we were the better team, but Long Beach battled back, and they're defending national champs for a reason. I thought they did some nice things down the stretch that ended up being the difference. I thought both Jalen and Hank were phenomenal on the pins tonight, and it's going to take us bouncing back and replicating what we did tonight in Long Beach tomorrow."

UP NEXT
The same two teams will complete the two-match regular season series on Saturday in Long Beach. First serve at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid is scheduled for 7 p.m.

#GoMatadors