The CSUN men’s volleyball team wraps up a busy 17-day span this weekend, traveling to Westwood for the annual UCLA Fall Invitational.

After hosting Hawai’i in an exhibition contest on Nov. 2, the Matadors played four matches last at the USC Fall Tournament last weekend and will play four more matches Friday and Saturday at UCLA’s SAC Gym this weekend.

CSUN will open the UCLA Invitational Friday at 5 p.m. against the host Bruins followed by a match-up of both teams’ B squads at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Matadors will take on USC at 10 a.m. before concluding the Invitational against UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. Each match will be the best three-out-of-five sets. Admission is free and there is limited seating available.

Last weekend at USC, CSUN split four matches at the Galen Center Pavilion. The Matadors opened with a 25-20, 18-25, 15-13 win over USC before falling to Grand Canyon 25-18, 25-19 and 15-13 in an extra set.

The second day saw the Matadors drop two sets to UCLA 25-22, 25-17 before defeating Stanford 25-22, 25-20 and 23-21 in an extra set.

After the UCLA Invitational, CSUN will be off until opening the 2018 regular season Jan. 4 at the UCSB Asics Invitational. The Matadors take on Saint Francis (Jan. 4), NJIT (Jan. 5) and Princeton (Jan. 6) in Santa Barbara.

The home season opens for the Matadors Jan. 12 against UC Merced before facing a road test against former MPSF rival Stanford on Jan. 17. The season’s opening month concludes with a home match against Concordia-Irvine (Jan. 19) before CSUN heads to the Midwest for matches at Lewis (Jan. 25) and Loyola-Chicago (Jan. 27).

February opens with the Matadors hosting UC Santa Cruz (Feb. 2), a team CSUN last played in 2004. The Matadors will keep a rivalry that dates back to 1978 alive Feb. 6 when they visit Pauley Pavilion to take on UCLA. Home matches against Stanford (Feb. 10) and Cal Lutheran (Feb. 23) and a road match at Concordia (Feb. 24) close the month of non-conference matches.

CSUN will also host George Mason (Mar. 9) and Harvard (Mar. 10) in the middle of the Big West season.

In another scheduling twist, the Matadors will play each of the other three of the five Big West teams in home-and-home matches on successive nights. The exceptions being Long Beach State (Mar. 2, Mar. 4) and Hawai’i which comes to Northridge for a two-match set on Mar. 15-16.

CSUN will host UC Santa Barbara Mar. 30 before traveling to Rob Gym the next night. In April, the Matadors travel to UC Irvine on Apr. 6 before hosting the Anteaters at The Matadome (Apr. 7). The final conference series against UC San Diego takes place Apr. 13-14 with the Tritons coming to Northridge before CSUN heads to La Jolla to conclude the regular season.

The inaugural Big West Men’s Volleyball Tournament is scheduled for Apr. 19-21 at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid and the NCAA Tournament at UCLA gets underway on May 3.

UCLA MVB Fall Invitational Schedule at SAC Gym (Updated)
Friday 11/17/17:
5:00 p.m.
Court 1: UCLA (A) vs. CSUN (A)
Court 2: USC vs. UCSB
7:30 p.m.
Court 1: UCLA (B) vs. CSUN (B)

Saturday 11/18/17:
10:00 a.m.
Court 1: UCLA vs. UCSB
Court 2: CSUN vs. USC
2:00 p.m.
Court 1: UCLA vs. USC
Court 2: CSUN vs. UCSB