IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia men's volleyball team capped off their third match of the week with a victory and yet another upset over No. 11 CSUN. Both teams battled to the end by ways of a five-set thriller that went in the Eagles favor. The duration of the match lasted over 2.5 hours and finished with a score of 25-19, 24-26, 35-37, 35-33, 15-13.

Jonathan Predney soared tonight with a .400 hitting percentage and a season-high of 26 kills, which is the most by any player in the MPSF this season. Aside from Predney's offensive showing, the Eagles benefited from the big wall of their middle blockers Hunter Howell and Taylor Falduti who had 10 and seven blocks respectively. Their defense led the Concordia block party to a 21-9 blocking advantage while Predney and Falduti helped with three aces each to put the Eagles ahead 9-3 in aces. Raymond Barsemian had 13 kills and hit .545 to increase his double-digit kill performance to 13 times this season.
 
The first set was promising in the beginning for Concordia due to multiple CSUN errors, placing the Eagles up 8-4 and causing an early Matadors timeout. CSUN raced back to tie the set at 10-10, but Concordia used four straight points to get back ahead. A Falduti ace and Predney kill helped give CUI a seven-point lead at 21-14. Howell teamed up with Darcy Taig for a block while Falduti collected a kill to give Concordia a set point, but CSUN ended the set on their with a service error.
 
CSUN had leads early at 7-4 and 12-7 in the second set. But that did not stop the Eagles from crawling their way back. Down 17-14, Josiah Bergt put down a ball while Isaiah Kaaa served up an ace, then leading to an Eagles triple block and a Barsemian kill to put Concordia in the lead 19-17. Following a CSUN timeout at 21-19 CUI, the Matadors scored three-straight to gain a lead. A kill by Predney followed by a scrappy defensive play from Jacob Weiser and Addison Enriques led to a Barsemian kill and set point for the Eagles. The Matadors used the power of their .517 hitting efficiency in this set to take the last three points to tie the match at one a piece.
 
Similar to set two, the Eagles saw themselves down early at 7-2. CSUN maintained a lead for a majority of the set, until Concordia came back to tie it at 18-18, then 21-21. Following the tie at 23-23, the teams went on a marathon run until the end. There was a total of 12 set points erased (seven for CSUN and five for Concordia) that featured four kills from Predney. In the end, it was the Matadors who took the set 37-35, the longest set the Eagles have played in all season.
 
Taig served up an ace for Concordia to help them out to a 6-4 lead. The Matadors responded to stay close throughout the set until Barsemian locked down a kill and then teamed up with Howell for a stuff for a 17-14 edge. Concordia gained an advantage at 23-21 where they looked to attempt to take this match to five sets. Chandler Gibb dumped the ball for a kill to give the Eagles set point before CSUN stormed back to go ahead 26-25 and perched on match point. Concordia called a timeout and followed that with a Barsemian kill, where teams then sided out eight straight points with the Eagles fighting off five match points and benefiting from four Predney kills. Concordia used their final timeout with them down 33-32, which went in their favor icing CSUN's server that led to a service error. The Eagles showed their blocking prowess to end the long set where Falduti and Barsemian had back-to-back blocks to keep their hopes alive for a match win.
 
Quick kills from CSUN put them up 3-1 in the decisive fifth set. A 5-1 run from Concordia put them ahead 8-6 leading into the side switch. Teams traded blow for blow with Falduti and Barsemian gaining momentum for Concordia to put them closer to the finish line at 13-10. Three straight CSUN points tied the match up, forced an Eagles timeout and put the teams in the sudden death situation of you must win by two. The Matadors then put a serve out of bounds giving Concordia their first match point of the night. That was then their one and only match point as that was all that was needed where Predney and Howell sent back a CSUN attack to seal the upset for the Eagles.
 
Concordia now improves to 8-6 overall and adds to their resume with three wins over ranked teams this season. The Eagles will take a plane across the Pacific Ocean for a two-match series at No. 3 Hawaii to be played on March 2nd and 4th.