California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
CSUN Opens Outrigger Big West Championship Thursday vs. UC Irvine
4/22/2026 6:36:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK - OUTRIGGER BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
MATCH #27
#6 Seed CSUN Matadors (12-14, 0-10 Big West) @ #3 Seed UC Irvine Anteaters (17-7, 5-5 Big West)
Friday, Apr. 17, 2026Â - 7:30Â p.m. PT
Bren Events Center - Irvine, Calif.
ESPN+
Live Stats
In-game XÂ updates:Â @CSUNMensVB
CSUNÂ Men's Volleyball Media Notes
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Men's Volleyball team (12-14, 0-10 Big West) is the No. 6 seed in this week's Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship and will open the tournament Thursday (Apr. 23) against No. 3 seed UC Irvine (20-6, 6-4 Big West) at the Bren Events Center in Irvine. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT.
The winner of Thursday's first round match will advance to Friday's Semifinal round, where No. 2 seed Long Beach State awaits the winner at 7:30 p.m. PT. Thursday's other first-round match features No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara taking No. 5 seed UC San Diego, which precedes the CSUN/UCI match at 5 p.m. PT. Top-seed Hawai'i will meet the winner of the UCSD/UCSB match in the first Semifinal round match on Friday at 5 p.m. PT.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
All matches of the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship can be viewed on ESPN+ through Spectrum Sports Hawai'i.
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 Twitter feed (@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 (12-14) 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 85 points this week after dropping a pair of Big West matches at No. 2 Hawai'i last week. The Matadors have now been ranked in all 16 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 51 consecutive polls and 61 of the last 64 AVCA national polls. 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 (26-1) remained the top-ranked team for the 16th straight week, collecting all 25 first-place votes and 500 total points. Hawai'i (26-4) remained second after receiving 467 points, followed by Long Beach State (22-4), Pepperdine (22-5), and UC Irvine (17-7). The remainder of this week's top 10 features USC (17-6), Ball State (23-4), BYU (20-11), UC Santa Barbara (14-11), and Loyola Chicago (19-7). The second half of this week's top-20 poll includes UC San Diego (12-13), McKendree (18-10), Lindenwood (20-7), Stanford (11-14), Lewis (17-13), Penn State (20-7), Ohio State (14-12), the Matadors (12-14), NJIT (18-8), and Purdue Fort Wayne (12-12).
SCOUTING UC IRVINE
No. 3 Seed UC Irvine (17-7, 5-5 Big West), seeded third at this week's Big West Championship, capped the regular season with a pair of losses to No. 2-ranked Long Beach State last week. Five UC Irvine players earned All-Big West honors, highlighted by opposite William D'Arcy and outside hitter Andrej Jokanovic on the first team. Middle blocker Trevor Clark and libero Shane Aitken were named honorable mention. UCI joined CSUN with a pair of players on the All-Freshman Team as setter Cameron Kosty joined Jokanovic were each named to the seven-player squad.
All-time series: Thursday's first round match is the 85th meeting all-time between the Matadors and UC Irvine. In the series that dates back to 1977, UCI holds a 47-37 edge in 84 previous matches. The Anteaters claimed both meetings this season to run their current win streak over CSUN to four. The two teams have met in the Big West Championship twice. UCI has won both previous postseason meetings: 25-21, 25-22, 25-18 in 2023 in Irvine and 22-25, 25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 19-17 in 2025 in Hawai'i.
FOUR MATADORS NAMED ALL-BIG WEST
The CSUN Men's Volleyball had four student-athletes named to the 2026 All-Big West 2026 All-Conference Team, which has been announced on the eve of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship. Redshirt junior Jalen Phillips, repeated as a first-team selection, while redshirt sophomore Owen Douphner was named honorable mention and Grayson Albers and Noah Douphner were each named to the seven-member All-Freshman Team. Phillips is now a three-time All-Big West recipient, after also being named to the First-Team in 2025 and the Honorable Mention and All-Freshman Teams in 2024. Owen Douphner is a first-time all-conference recipient, while Albers and Noah Douphner represent the 10th and 11 Matadors named All-Freshman since 2018.
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. Now with 1,087 career kills, Phillips has moved into seventh place on the CSUN Rally Scoring era kills list, passing Isaac Kneubuhl (2005-08) and Brian Waite (2003-06) this season.
After missing the UCSB series (Apr. 2-4), Phillips was back in the lineup against UC Irvine and Hawai'i, putting down 51 kills over four matches. He remains second in the Big West in kills per set this week at 3.88. Phillips, who held the conference lead for six weeks, has a team-high 291 kills over 75 sets this season. At 3.88 kps, Phillips opens the week ranked second to Hawai'i's Kristian Titriyski who averages 3.98 kills per set. Phillips, who is also second the Big West points per set at 4.36, ranks 11th this week in hitting percentage (.313). In the national statistics, he ranks eighth in kills (3.88), 14th in points (4.36), 36th in hitting percentage (.313), and 23rd in attacks per set (8.17).
CSUN CHAMPIONSHIP NOTESÂ
Thursday's Outrigger Big West Championship opener against UC Irvine marks the Matadors' 25th appearance in a postseason conference tournament since 1990. CSUN was the No. 6 seed in the most recent Outrigger Big West Championship in Honolulu in 2025, falling to No. 3 seed UC Irvine in a five-set thriller (22-25, 25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 19-17) in a first-round quarterfinal match. The Matadors' last win in the Big West Championship came in 2024 when CSUN defeated No. 5 seed UC San Diego in straight sets in the Quarterfinals before falling to top-seed Long Beach State in the Semifinals. CSUN's only other win at the Big West Championship came over UC Santa Barbara (3-1) in the first round of the 2018 Big West Championship at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid ... The victory over the Gauchos in 2019 was CSUN's first postseason victory since defeating BYU in the semifinals of the 2010 MPSF Tournament at Stanford. The Matadors were regular participants in the MPSF Tournament, earning a spot in the postseason each and every season from 2002- 2010. In all, CSUN has now qualified for the postseason tournament 25 times since 1990. Theo Edwards will coach his fifth Big West Championship match on Thursday. Edwards and the Matadors dropped a 3-0 decision to UCI in his debut season in 2023, defeated UC San Diego (3-0) and lost to Long Beach State (3-1) in 2024 and UCI (3-2) in 2025. CSUN finished 8-14 all-time in conference tournament matches under previous head coach Jeff Campbell, the Matadors reached the conference tournament championship match three times, most recently the MPSF Tournament Championship in 2010.
CSUN IN THE BIG WEST STATS RANKINGS
In this week's Big West statistical rankings, the Matadors slipped from second to fourth in kills per set (12.19) and hitting percentage (.306). CSUN is also fifth assists per set (11.34), digs per set (7.38), and sixth in points per set (15.13) and sixth in aces per set (1.03), blocks per set (1.90) and opponent hitting percentage (.268). Individually, in addition to Phillips, Jordan Lucas ranks 20th in hitting percentage (.248), 15th in kills per set (2.39), and 17th in points per set (2.67). Owen Douphner remains second in assists per set (9.49), and is also 19th in blocks per set (0.64) and 19th in digs per set (1.22). Grayson Albers, who ranks 20th in blocks per set (0.62), is hitting .523 this season with 122 kills and just 18 errors on 199 swings, would rank among the top hitters in the country with enough attempts to qualify. Tusculum's Morgan Makovec is currently leading the nation at .538.
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 55-57Â (.491) 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
If the Matadors defeat UC Irvine in the first round on Thursday, CSUN would advance to take on No. 2 seed Long Beach State on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
#GoMatadors
