GOLETA, Calif. – Senior Donovan Constable served a career-high seven aces to propel the 15th-ranked CSUN men’s volleyball team to a season opening 3-0 sweep over Tusculum at the UCSB ASICS Invitational Thursday at Rob Gym.
In sweeping the Pioneers, 25-14, 25-18,25-20, the Matadors (1-0) win their season opener for the first time since defeating Concordia on the same court in 2019.
Constable was a force from the service line, dealing seven aces to surpass his previous career-high of five. The senior setter also handed out 31 assists to go with four digs and a pair of blocks. Sophomore Jalen Phillips led all hitters in the match with 11 kills (.143) to go with a pair of blocks. Senior Lorenzo Bertozzi added nine kills on .375 hitting and freshman Stilian Delibosov put down eight kills on nine errorless swings to hit .889 in his Matador debut.
CSUN hit .403 (43-14-72) as a team while limiting Tusculum to a .190 (23-12-58) clip.
SET 1: CSUN 25, TUSCULUM 14
The Matadors led by two on a pair of occasions early on before opening up a three-point lead (15-12) on a Delibosov kill. CSUN maintained a three-point edge at 17-14 when Constable stepped to the service line and served eight straight points to seal the 25-14 win. A pair of Phillips kills sandwiched five consecutive aces by the CSUN setter.
SET 2: CSUN 25, TUSCULUM 18
The Pioneers jumped out to a 4-2 lead to open the second set before consecutive Bertozzi kills trimmed the lead to one at 8-7. Again, down two at 10-8, CSUN put together a 6-2 run, capped by a Constable-Delibosov block to open up a 16-12 lead. With the Matadors still up four at 18-14, Tusculum scored twice to cut the lead to two before CSUN closed the set on a 7-2 run to wrap up a 25-18 win and a two-set lead.
SET 3: CSUN 25, TUSCULUM 20
The Matadors trailed 8-7 in the final set before engineering a 4-0 run, capped by a Delibosov ace, to open up an 11-8 lead. The teams then traded 3-0 runs as the Pioneers tied the score before CSUN went back on top 14-11 on Costable’s seventh ace of the match. The Matadors would lead by as many as four (17-13) following a Bertozzi kill before Tusculum rallied back to within one at 17-16. Clinging to a 20-18 lead, CSUN claimed five of the final seven points, the final three coming on Delibosov kills, to pull away for the 25-20 win.
NOTES
- The match was the first ever meeting between CSUN and Tusculum.
- CSUN improves to 54-37 all-time at the UCSB ASICS Invitational.
- The loss drops Tusculum to 0-1 on the season.
HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID
“Nice match for the guys tonight and a good start to the season. We had a few guys make their Matador debuts, Joao (Favarim) had a nice match, hit .600 and Joao Pedro (Avila) hit only .200 but did some great things as a passer and was consistent from the service line. Stilian was dominant tonight, hit .889 and I thought he had a terrific match. Donovan was fantastic, led the way with 31 assists and was terrific from the service line.”
Head coach Theo Edwards shares his thoughts following No. 15 #CSUN's 3-0 season-opening win over Tusculum at UCSB#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/fcHyBqqqWX
— CSUN Men's Volleyball (@CSUNMensVB) January 10, 2025
UP NEXT
CSUN plays its second match of the 2025 UCSB ASICS Invitational on Friday, taking on Missouri S&T (0-1) at 7 p.m. at Rob Gym on the UC Santa Barbara campus.
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