The CSUN men’s volleyball team went through the month of February without a loss. They opened up March with a sweep in straight sets over Sacred Heart to extend their winning streak to eight games on Monday night at the Premier America Credit Union Arena.
After taking down SHU 3-0, CSUN earned their seventh sweep of the season to improve to a 13-2 record.
CSUN coach, Theo Edwards, said he was pleased with the team’s performance, something that hasn’t been the case in recent weeks.
“It’s funny, the last couple of matches, I feel like even though we’ve won, we weren’t really in a rhythm. We weren’t playing like ourselves and I felt like tonight was the first time in a while that we really got it going,” Edwards said. ““I thought Donovan [Constable] was really fantastic as a setter and it was nice to get a good win here.”
Constable was solid in the win. The senior setter had a game-high of 31 assists and commanded the team well.
“We look at one game at a time and we try to take that and prioritize that, but also just staying together. I think the team cohesion is pretty well this year. The best it’s been since I’ve been here,” Constable said. “As long as we stay together and we play our brand of volleyball, good things happen.”
It seemed like the complacency the Matadors had been battling was going to carry into the match vs. SHU. CSUN ran into a bit of trouble early on as they had trouble creating separation in the first set. The Pioneers had a response for everything the Matadors’ threw at them.
Eventually, both teams found themselves knotted up at 23 points apiece before CSUN capped off the opening set with back-to-back kills from Lorenzo Bertozzi.
The senior outside hitter finished with a team-high nine kills on the night.
Edwards said it took a while for his team to settle in and find their rhythm.
“I told them to relax. Honestly, we kind of forced it a little bit against Cal Lutheran and we were really trying to fix some problems and having some trouble with that,” Edwards said. “I told them to just settle in and relax and let it come to you. And I feel like we did that really well tonight.”
It didn’t take long for the Matadors to find their groove in the second set. CSUN found themselves leading 11-5 over the Pioneers, which quickly ballooned to a 22-14 lead.
The Matadors ran away with the second set, 25-16, to take a commanding 2-0 lead and had all the confidence heading into the third set.
Sacred Heart did not go down without a fight in the final set. Both teams were fighting tooth and nail for each point as neither team could retain their serves. However, CSUN used a 6-2 run to take an 8-5 lead and the Matadors never looked back.
CSUN heads into their most important match of the season vs. No. 1 Long Beach State at home on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
