The Premier America Credit Union Arena was teeming with people throughout the evening. The game happening inside featured a miraculous comeback that almost happened.
But many of the people inside the building weren’t there for the game. They instead went to Redwood Hall, the wing of the arena that’s filled with classrooms, to cast their votes in the primary election.
CSUN men’s volleyball (9-8) took on Penn State (13-4) on Super Tuesday, looking to improve their record against ranked teams. Being 16th themselves, the Matadors needed to show consistency against teams ranked higher than them. They took 15th-ranked Lewis University and 10th-ranked Pepperdine to five sets but needed to prove that they could finish the job. The game against ninth-ranked Penn State was a perfect opportunity to do so as they wrapped up non-conference play.
The Matadors continued struggling with service errors, committing 26. Their season average sits at 25 per game. CSUN’s first serve of set one was an error, which set the pace for the rest of the game.
Though the Matadors lost in four sets, they had another record-breaking performance to put in the history books. Redshirt senior Kyle Hobus moved into ninth on the Matadors’ all-time kills list in the CSUN Rally Scoring era.
“Wow,” Hobus said. “I just can’t thank this school enough. It’s become like my second home. I’ve been here for a long time, and my teammates and coaches over the years, Theo has just really allowed me to blossom, so I have so much appreciation for the position I’ve been put in.”
Head coach Theo Edwards believes Hobus is special on and off the court.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Edwards said. “I think people look at the numbers and they see what he’s done from a volleyball perspective, but what he’s done from a culture perspective and the way he leads his team, it’s second to none.”
Hobus is now seven kills away from reaching 1,000 in his career. Edwards believes the outside hitter is not done.
“I have a feeling that he’ll finish higher than ninth,” Edwards said.
Hobus’ 19-kill outing came on the heels of two other record-setting performances by his teammates. Against Lewis, junior setter Donovan Constable became the 10th player in CSUN volleyball history to reach 2,000 assists, and against Charleston, senior Griffin Walters reached 100 career aces for the Matadors.
Meanwhile, the Matadors had bigger fish to fry.
When playing Lewis and Pepperdine, the Matadors forced five sets but lost the first in each match, which caused them to play from behind. Against the Nittany Lions, the Matadors fell behind by two sets before finally making a push.
“The way we started, it dictated the whole thing,” Edwards said. “…To give away those first two sets in the fashion that we did, it just put us at a huge disadvantage.”
The Matadors fell behind 11-4 in the first set, putting themselves in a deep hole early. CSUN got within one to make it 19-18, but the Nittany Lions put the set away as the Matadors’ comeback ran out of fuel.
The second set was a lot closer, as it was tied nine times, though it finished with the same score as the first, 25-21.
The Matadors turned the tables in the third, hitting .480 to win 25-17. Outside hitter Matteo Salvador came off the bench and stepped up in this set, going for five kills to give the Matadors life.
CSUN had momentum after that, but again fell behind early in the fourth set. Towards the end, the Nittany Lions extended their lead to 22-17, but Hobus served five straight points, starting with his fourth service ace of the match, to even the score and give the Matadors a chance to force a fifth set.
After expending lots of energy playing from behind once again, the Matadors lost their momentum and fell 25-23. Edwards said the team needs to find consistency, but praised the way they fought to the finish.
“If you look at where we were behind in each and every set, we found a way to make it interesting, and that’s because we’re capable of it,” Edwards said. “We’ve been playing toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country.”
In addition to Hobus’ 19 kills, opposite Jalen Phillips added seven, and Salvador put up eight. The Matadors ran a deep rotation, with Hobus being the constant on the floor, helping guys like Salvador flourish off the bench.
“We had some lineup changes, and guys came in and really stepped up,” Hobus said. “They contributed massively, and it makes my job really easy when guys around us are just rallying together. I’m just out there to score some points, but I can’t do that without my teammates.”
For Penn State, opposite John Kerr led the way with 13 kills, while middle blocker Toby Ezeonu had 10.
CSUN is now 9-8 on the season and is 2-7 against ranked teams. They have now reached a pivotal point in the season as they prepare for 10 games worth of conference play. They went 1-9 during that stretch last year.
The Matadors have a nine-day break before they take on UC San Diego two days in a row, playing on the road next Thursday and hosting the Tritons Friday.
