NORTHRIDGE, CA – Dimitar Kalchev and Jakub Ciesla had 37 of CSUN’s 59 kills as the 11th-ranked Matadors held off the upset bid of USC to win in five sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-9) Wednesday night at Galen Center.

The Matadors (8-4, 3-4 MPSF) snapped a four-match slide as they hit .261 (59-24-134) as a team. Both Kalchev and Ciesla rebounded from a tough stretch to hit .382 and .317 respectively. Ciesla added three aces and completed CSUN’s first double-double this season by adding a team-high 10 digs. Junior Bradley Sakaida added CSUN’s final two aces while also chipping in nine kills.

“I thought we served well and put some pressure on them,” said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. “But more importantly we fought the entire match. Our passing was pretty steady and Dimitar and Jakub both played well.”

Josiah Byers added seven kills on .538 hitting while setter Sam Porter registered 51 assists, seven digs and three blocks. CJ Suarez added nine digs from his libero spot as the Matadors posted a season-high 39 team digs in the win.

After leading by as many as four points late in the the opening set, the host Trojans saved a pair of set points to cut a 24-21 CSUN lead down to 24-23. But Ciesla’s attack from the right side landed just inside the line giving the vistors the 25-23 win.

In set two, USC used a 5-0 run to erase a 12-10 Matador lead and the Trojans held off a late Matador rally to even the match with the 25-22 win.

After Kalchev’s attack was stuffed at the net giving USC a 17-14 lead in the third, CSUN battled back and ultimately took a 21-20 lead when Ciesla’s serve was not returned. That turned into a 4-0 Matador run that put CSUN in the driver’s seat at 23-21 and a Trojan service error on set point gave the Matadors the crucial 25-22 win.

The fourth set was all USC as the hosts out-hit CSUN .440 to .129 and won going away 25-13.

That set up the decisive fifth set and neither team could separate with the Matadors leading 8-7 at the changeover. Behind a Sakaida kill followed immediately by a Sakaida ace, CSUN opened up an 11-8 lead and never looked back taking the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.

Lucas Yoder had 17 kills to pace USC which slipped to 2-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

CSUN completed its two-match road trip Friday as the Matadors travel to Riverside to take on Cal Baptist at 7 p.m.