Jan. 20, 2010

Northridge, Calif. – The second-ranked Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team defeated No. 4 UC Irvine, 3-1 (31-29, 27-30, 30-27, 30-28) at the Matadome Wednesday.

The Matadors remained undefeated with a 6-0 overall and 3-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record. UCI goes to 4-3 on the year and 1-2 in MPSF play.

UCI was led by opposite Carson Clark with a match-high 23 kills. He also added nine digs and three block assists. Reigning MPSF Co-Player of the Week, Jordan DuFault had 18 kills and a season-high five block assists. Setter Anthony Spittle had a season-high 43 set assists, tied his career-high with five block assists and recorded seven digs, while libero Kevin Welch added nine digs. Middle blocker Bryan Simmons had a match-high nine total blocks.

Cal State Northridge had four players with double-digit kills led by Tanner Nua and Theo Edwards with 18 each. Mike Gaudino totaled 15 kills followed by Kevin McKniff with 10 kills. Setter Matt Stork totaled 62 set assists while libero Ali’I Keohohou had a match-high 11 digs. Middle blocker Jacek Ratajczak added eight kills and a team-high six total blocks.

In the first set, UCI started out with a 5-3 lead on a Jeff Schmitz kill, but Cal State Northridge scored the next five points to take a 8-5 advantage. The Matadors continued to lead and opened a 22-17 advantage on a Tanner Nua kill. The Anteaters would rally scoring four unanswered which included back-to-back blocks to narrow the margin to 22-21. Northridge would score two more before kills by Jordan DuFault and Bryan Simmons were followed by a Matador attack error to knot the score at 24-24.  The teams would trade points until Cal State Northridge had consecutive blocks to end the match, 31-29. Both teams struggled offensively with UCI hitting just 0.061 (11-9-33) and Cal State Northridge hitting .163 (17-10-43).

UCI had a 4-1 spurt which included a pair of kills by Carson Clark followed by a block by Clark and Kevin Wynne to open a 13-8 lead in the second set. The Anteaters held a 20-16 advantage until the Matadors got a kill and a service ace by Mike Gaudino and kills by Kevin McKniff and Theo Edwards to tie the set at 20 all. A service error by Gaudino stopped the Matador streak. Following a 24-24 tie, Jordan DuFault and Clark recorded kills to give UCI a 24-22 lead. CSUN came as close as 25-24 but UCI responded with kills by Clark and Simmons and never let the Matadors get closer than two the rest of the way. Cal State Northridge had nine service errors in the game.

The third set had 17 ties and following a 27-27 score, Cal State Northridge would score the final three points of the set on a UCI service error and two service aces by Kevin McKniff to win 30-27.

Cal State Northridge scored three unanswered to open a 21-17 lead in the fourth set and went on to win the set 30-28 and the match, 3-1

UCI will host No. 11 UC Santa Barbara Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Center.