The Matador’s three-game winning streak turned into four after defeating Stanford (9-12,6-9 MPSF) in four sets 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23. CSUN(9-13, 6-10MPSF ) began to completely turn around the second half of their season since they ended their eight-game losing streak at Long Beach State’s Asics Tournament.
Health, serving and passing were all working for the Matadors tonight.
“We did some nice things tonight. Some of the guys have really been playing well. That’s what great teams do, they’re able to maybe not put their best foot forward and still find a way to win,” said Head Coach Jeff Campbell.
Leading the first set with a service ace, Magorien set the tone for the Matadors.
CSUN gained an early lead at 11-7 and didn’t look back from there. Stanford had a hard time serving the entire set and lost the set point to a serving error. They were outhit .250 to CSUN’s .500, and had 11 kills to CSUN’s 13.
“Our serving definitely got them out of system, causing them to have more mistakes and also gave us a little more success on the block because they have to force sets to the person they normally wouldn’t have to go to” said senior outside hitter Kyle Stevenson.
The second set began the same way as the first-high energy and with CSUN on top. The first point came from a kill by Faulkner and then the Matadors added two more before allowing Stanford on the board.
The Matadors remained ahead, until Stanford tied it at 11 with a Matador hitting error. The two battled back and forth and for the first time in the set, and match, Stanford was given the lead at 11-12 when Ciesla sent a ball off the court.
The two battled back and forth, but once it was tied at 13, Stanford went on a four-point run. The Matadors stayed in that four-point rut until victory came to Stanford at 20-25. The Matadors hit .045 in the set to Stanford’s .3-10. Stanford had twice as many kills with 15 to CSUN’s 7.
“We were blocking a lot of balls, we were getting a lot of aces tonight and it makes the game a lot easier when we’re getting points like that,” said Faulkner.
A kill by Faulkner lead the third set, followed by six more Matador points. The only one given to Stanford in the first seven points of the set was a missed serve by Magorien.
The Matadors continued their lead, but Stanford closed in and questionable calls by the ref brought the score within one. CSUN responded with a three point run to regain their lead. They remained ahead and won the set 25-21 with a kill from Ciesla. Stanford out hit CSUN .286 to .242, but the Matadors had 14 kills to Stanford’s nine. There were no lead changes or tie scores in the set.
“Our passing is steady, our serving is a little bit better. I would say the most important thing for us is we are healthy-healthier than we’ve been all year,” said Campbell.
The fourth set started with a kill from Faulkner, which was immediately answered by Stanford. The two went back and forth and the score was tied by six. From here on both teams battled, but the Matadors remained ahead. At 18-13, Stanford went on a four point run to put the game within one. CSUN kept their lead, though Stanford tied it at 22, and won the match 25-23 with a kill from Stevenson.
“We did a really good job of serving tough. Our mentality is we’re just gonna go back there and we’re gonna go for it cause we have nothing to lose and that mentality’s really helped us because we’re serving tough, we’re causing the other team a lot of problems and it makes it a lot easier for us to play defense,” said Faulkner.
Stevenson had 16 kills, hit .583 and added 12 digs. Ciesla had 11 kills (.088) and two service aces. Byers added eight kills while hitting .571 and Magorien added 35 assists with three service aces.
“I gotta give Stanford credit. Its a PAC 12 school, its got a lot of resources behind it; its coached well, it’s got good players; I wanna just say that they are a very good team. I feel very good about the way we played tonight,” said Campbell.
