In the inaugural Big West Men’s Volleyball All-Conference Team announced Monday, CSUN has five players honored as senior opposite Arvis Greene, junior middle blocker Eric Chance, junior outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev were named to the First Team while senior middle blocker Josiah Byers was named Honorable Mention and freshman outside hitter Maciej Ptaszynski was named to the All-Freshman Team.

The Matadors, who finished the regular season 15-10 and were fourth in the Big West at 5-5, had five players named to the All-Conference Team for the first time since 2009.

“The players that were selected to the All-Big West Team have worked hard to really further their careers and become the best volleyball players they can be,” said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. “Having Arvis, Eric and Dimitar all named to the first team is a great showing and those guys should be very proud. Josiah and Maciej also had great performances throughout the year and are very deserving of their awards as well.”

The accolades mark the second career conference postseason honors for Greene, Kalchev and Byers and the first in the collegiate careers of Chance and Ptaszynski.

After a breakout 2017 season that saw him named Honorable Mention All-American (AVCA, Volleyball Magazine) and Second Team All-MPSF, Greene had another solid season for CSUN in 2018. He led the Matadors with 349 kills and ranked first in the nation at 4.59 kills per set. The senior from Los Angeles reached double figures in kills in 19 of the 22 matches in which he played, highlighted by a career-high 40-kill performance at No. 3 UC Irvine on Apr. 6.

Kalchev, a 2017 Honorable Mention All-MPSF selection, finished the regular season second to Greene with 250 kills while averaging 3.05 kills per set. The junior from Khardzhali, Bulgaria also served a team-leading 39 aces in the regular season which upped his CSUN career total to 147. He also tied for second on the team with 99 digs (1.21 dps) and added 37 blocks (0.45 bps).

Chance, a redshirt junior who is expected to graduate from CSUN in May, has a season career-high 138 kills this season while hitting a team-high .433. A career .415 hitter, the middle blocker from Redondo Beach is also one of the leading blockers on the Matadors with 79 total blocks, including 17 solo stuffs.

Byers, an Honorable Mention All-MPSF pick as a sophomore in 2016, finished the regular season with a team-high 86 blocks which gives him 315 total blocks in his Matador career. The middle blocker from Sacramento also added 103 kills on .420 hitting during the regular season.

Ptaszynski is the first Matador named to a conference All-Freshman Team since Bradley Sakaida made the MPSF All-Freshman Team in 2014. Ptaszynski had a solid all-around first collegiate season as he averaged 1.72 kills, 1.23 digs and 0.46 blocks per set. The first year player from Gdansk, Poland, Ptaszynski also added 26 aces which ranked third on the Matadors.

Fourth-seeded CSUN opens the inaugural Big West Men’s Volleyball Tournament Thursday against No. 5 seed UC Santa Barbara at 7:30 p.m. at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid.

2018 Big West Men’s Volleyball All-Conference Team

Player of the Year
TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State

Freshman of the Year
Joel Schneidmiller, UC Irvine

Coach of the Year
Alan Knipe, Long Beach State