California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
UC Santa Barbara
No. 18 CSUN Takes on No. 8 UC Santa Barbara in Home-and-Home Series
4/1/2026 3:38:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #21Â (BIG WEST #5)
#18Â CSUN Matadors (12-8, 0-4Â Big West) @ #8 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (11-9, 2-3 Big West)
Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026Â - 7:00Â p.m. PT
The Thunderdome - Goleta, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
MATCH #22Â (BIG WEST #6)
#8 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos @ #18Â CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Apr. 4, 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. 18 CSUN (12-8, 0-4 Big West) opens the final month of the Big West regular season this week as the Matadors open a home-and-home series with No. 8 UC Santa Barbara on Thursday in Goleta. The Matadors and Gauchos will square off Thursday at The Thunderdome at 7 p.m. before returning to Premier America Credit Union Arena on Saturday for a 6 p.m. first serve. CSUN is coming off a 0-2 week that saw the Matadors drop a tough 3-2 decision to No. 3 Long Beach State on Friday in Northridge before falling in straight sets on Saturday at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Both matches against UC Santa Barbara will stream live on ESPN+ and will have live stats (links at GoMatadors.com). Cooper Hopkins will be on the call for CSUN's final two home matches of the season; Saturday vs. UCÂ Santa Barbara and Apr. 11 vs. UC Irvine.
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 REMAINS 18TH IN LATESTÂ AVCAÂ MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL
After opening the season ranked 11th in the AVCA preseason poll, the Matadors (12-8) remained 18th in this week's National Collegiate Poll. CSUN, which earned 238 points to rank 11th in the initial poll of the season, earned 94 points this week after dropping a pair of Big West matches to No. 3Â Long Beach State last week. The Matadors have now been ranked in all 13 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 48 consecutive polls and 58 of the last 61 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 (20-0) remained the top-ranked team for the 13th straight week, collecting all 25 first-place votes and 500 total points. Hawai'i (21-3) remained second after receiving 473 points, followed by Long Beach State (16-4), USC (14-3), and UC Irvine (15-3). The remainder of this week's top 10 features Pepperdine (17-4), Ball State (20-3), UC Santa Barbara (11-9), and BYU (17-8). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes Lindenwood (18-4), McKendree (15-8), UC San Diego (11-9), Stanford (9-10), Penn State (14-7), Lewis (14-11), Ohio State (12-10), the Matadors (12-8), NJIT (13-8), and Purdue Fort Wayne (9-10).
SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
#8 UC Santa Barbara (11-9, 2-3 Big West) is coming off a 1-2 week that saw the Gauchos defeat Cal Lutheran at home (3-1) on Tuesday before falling twice at No. 2 Hawai'i (3-1, 3-0) over the weekend. George Bruening led UCSB with 24 kills in the two-match set at Hawai'i, while averaging 3.43 per set. Ethan Saint added 19 kills, averaging 2.71 kps. The Gauchos' two Big West wins have come in five sets, at home over No. 11 UC San Diego (Mar. 6) and against No. 5 UC Irvine (Mar. 13). UCSB ranks sixth in the Big West in team hitting at .252.
All-time series: The two matches this week mark the 111th and 112th meetings all-time between the Matadors and Gauchos. In the series that dates back to 1978, UCSB holds a 67-43 lead in the series. UCSB won both regular season meetings in 2026 after CSUN snapped a 10-match skid to the Gauchos with a 3-1 win in Northridge in the 2024 finale. The Matadors are 23-22 all-time against the Gauchos in Northridge and 14-41 all-time against UCSB in Santa Barbara.
PHILLIPS REACHES 1,000 CAREER KILLS
With his 13th kill in a 19-kill effort against Jessup on Mar. 19, junior opposite Jalen Phillips became the 16th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. With 1,036 career kills, Phillips moved into eighth place on the CSUN Rally Scoring era kills list, passing Isaac Kneubuhl (2005-08) last week. Phillips now has his sights set on Brian Waite who had 1,068 kills in 404 from 2003-06.
Phillips also maintained the Big West lead in kills per set this week at 3.93. Phillips, who has held the conference lead for the past six weeks, has a team-high 240 kills over 61 sets this season. At 3.93 kps, Phillips opens the week with a sizable lead over second-place George Bruening of UC Santa Barbara (3.77) and third-place Sebastiano Sani of UC San Diego (3.51). Phillips, who also leads the Big West points per set at 4.50, also remained seventh in hitting percentage (.342). In the national statistics, he ranks eighth in kills (3.93), ninth in points (4.50), 26th in hitting percentage (.342), and 23rd in attacks per set (7.92).
CSUN HONORS FORMER MATADOR MIKE BIRD
On Saturday, the Matadors will celebrate the life of Mike Bird who was a four-year letter winner for the CSUN Men's Volleyball team from 1984-1987. A team captain and preseason All-American as a senior in 1987, Bird appeared in 296 sets during his Matador career. He played his first two seasons at CSUN for Walt Ker and his final two seasons for John Price. He amassed 554 digs in his CSUN career, which ranks ninth in the program's Sideout Scoring era. He also ranks seventh in CSUN's Sideout Scoring era, averaging 1,83 digs per set over his four-year career. Bird passed away on March 18.
CSUN QUICK SETS
Kaufman, who hit .591 with 13 kills on 22 errorless swings against Long Beach State on Friday, reached 100 kills in a season for the first time. The redshirt sophomore had 43 kills over 29 sets as a redshirt sophomore in 2025 before notching an even 100 kills in 16 matches this season ... Redshirt junior Malcolm King is also approaching a career milestone. King had seven kills in two matches against Long Beach State giving him 99 career kills at CSUN. King started in place of an injured Grayson Albers, his first starts since Apr. 12 of the 2024 season ... Avila made his first start of the season at libero on Saturday at Long Beach State ... Freshman Noah Douphner came off the bench to knock down six kills with one error on 10 swings to hit .500 against the Beach on Saturday.Â
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 12.63 and assists per set at 11.79. CSUN, which remained third this week in hitting percentage (.342), is also fourth in digs per set (7.38). The Matadors are sixth this week in opponent hitting percentage (.246), points per set (15.63), aces per set (1.06) and blocks per set (1.94). Individually, in addition to Phillips, Jordan Lucas ranks ninth in hitting percentage (.322), 10th in kills per set (2.75), and 15th in points per set (3.03). Owen Douphner remains second in assists per set (9.90), and is also 17th in digs per set (1.25) and 18th in blocks per set (0.65). Grayson Albers, who ranks 20th in aces per set (0.25), remains at .586 hitting this season, which would lead the nation with enough attempts to qualify. Tusculum's Morgan Makovec is currently leading the nation at .529.
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 55-51 (.519) 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. 8 UC Santa Barbara, CSUN will close the regular season with a home-and-home series' against No. 5 UC Irvine (Apr. 9-11) and two matches at No. 3 Hawai'i (Apr. 17-18).
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