SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Sacred Heart men's volleyball team battled back from being down 1-0 and 2-1 to force a fifth set in its season opener on Friday morning, but could not overcome Cal State Northridge on the first day of the UCSB ASICS Invitational.

Carrying momentum over from a 25-22 fourth set victory, Sacred Heart led 2-1 and 3-2 early in the fifth set, thanks to a kill and service ace from Michael Comens and Christopher DeLucie kill. From there Cal State Northridge would score the next three, and four of the next five points to take control. Down 7-4, SHU came as close as two points three times, including 9-7, but two straight errors would halt the chance at a comeback attempt. 

Comens and DeLucie led Sacred Heart with 12 kills each, one shy of a career high for DeLucie, while Comens hit a career-high .421. Wesley Blodig led the tem with a .429 hitting percentage in his first career collegiate match. Eduardo Zardo paced SHU with 35 assists and 2.5 blocks, while Joshua Ayzenberg recorded a team-high eight digs.

SHU recorded more digs, 28-23, and blocks, 10-7, than Cal State, but the Matadors tallied 56 kills to the Pioneers' 40. CSUN held a slight advantage in hitting, .315 to .282.

Jakub Cielsa led the match with 15 kills for Northridge, while Bradley Sakaida and Josiah Byers added 12 each. Sam Porter had 51 assists and Dimitar Kalchev led the Matadors with six digs and four service aces.

Sacred Heart continues play in the UCSB AICS Invitational against fourth ranked Long Beach State Friday night at 10 pm ET before taking on the hosts, ninth ranked UC Santa Barbara, on Saturday at 9:30 pm.

How it Happened

• First Set- Trading the first five points of the set, CSUN registered five consecutive points, with kills from four different players, for a 7-3 lead and would not look back. Sacred Heart would score the next point after calling a timeout, but the Matadors answered with three in a row to complete a 8-2 run and would cruise to a 25-15 first set win from there
• Second Set- Neither team gained more than a one point lead until back-to-back kills by DeLucie put SHU ahead 11-8 with a third straight point. Northridge momentarily snapped the momentum with the next point, but again it was DeLucie who stepped up for the Pioneers with a kill and service ace to cap a 7-1 run and go up 15-9 on its way to a comfortable 25-13 second set
• Third Set- Sacred Heart battled from being down three early to tie it at 11 before a  Kalchev kill began 6-1 flurry. Four times SHU got as close as three points after that, but the Pioneers could never get any closer as Cal State rattled off the final four points of the set for a 25-18 final
• Fourth Set- Taking advantage of CSUN mistakes, Sacred Heart jumped out 10-4 lead thanks to an 8-1 stretch which included three Matador attack errors and two service errors. The Pioneers would eventually have to hold off a charging Northridge team in the end, as they got as close as two, 23-21. DeLucie and Comens provided kills after a timeout to send the match to the decisive fifth with a final of 25-22