HONOLULU — It took Cal State Northridge a night to take in the vaunted setting of the Stan Sheriff Center – the imposing sight and sound of nearly 6,000 passionate volleyball fans.

After getting used to all that, the Matadors sensed only an opportunity.

Unlike Friday’s four-set decision in favor of the home team, No. 18 CSUN was composed in serve-receive and poised down the stretch for a 25-23, 25-16, 22-25, 25-21 victory over No. 2 Hawaii.

It was the program’s first win over UH at the Sheriff since 2013, and first in the series since 2018.

CSUN coach Theo Edwards called Hawaii volleyball fans “some of the best in the world” after his first win in the Sheriff. CSUN is also 0-for-3 in Big West tournament games there since 2019 and will get another crack at that streak when they return in mid-April.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever played among 6,000 fans,” Edwards told Spectrum News. “So, I think that first set (Friday) was a big adjustment period for us, and then limited the errors. It was kind of a tale of two nights in terms of how offensive we were tonight. We played a lot cleaner volleyball, just all together.”

The Matadors (10-11, 1-3 Big West) hit .387 compared to just .240 for UH (18-4, 1-3), and CSUN’s own .270 the night before.

While Kyle Hobus was basically the offense for CSUN on Friday, the Matadors successfully added Jalen Phillips (17 kills) and Griffin Walters (15) to the mix on Saturday.

“It felt like they were a little more comfortable,” said UH opposite Alaka‘i Todd, who had 12 kills. “Their serving was really good and I think they beat us in the serve and pass game. We were off the net a lot tonight and they were on the net a lot tonight. In men’s volleyball, you can run whatever offense you want when you got the ball at the net 90% of the time.”

Right now, no victory seems assured as UH searches for the right moves with All-American Spyros Chakas out for the year with a knee injury.

“I gotta think everybody on our schedule going forward is thinking the same thing,” coach Charlie Wade said. “You don’t lose a player like that, a legitimate player of the year candidate, and not come back to the pack. That’s just the reality."

Freshman Louis Sakanoko made his second straight start and had 19 kills and nine digs, but also committed eight attack errors and hit .324.

Middles Guilherme Voss and Kurt Nusterer were decoys most of the night, but UH did not get the production it desired from its outsides to go with it. Chaz Galloway had four kills and Keoni Thiim four off of the bench.

“We’re going to need more of (Sakanoko) going forward, because he has an ability to score against everybody and we gotta find ways to get him the ball in situations where he can score,” Wade said.

Wade experimented with backup setter Kevin Kauling inserted for Tread Rosenthal near the end of Set 2 with the Matadors running away with it.

Edwards said his group was a little thrown off by the 10-minute media gap going into Set 3, but was pleased with his team’s calm at the start of Set 4. Setter Donovan Constable had his team’s offense firing from all angles.

“They were just going up and over, hitting the ball high and hard. The game’s pretty simple at that point,” Wade said.

UH continues its home stand on Friday in a two-day Big West set against No. 20 UC Santa Barbara (7-14, 0-5).

“We’re not giving up," Wade said. "Just kind of searching, it gets to the, ‘OK, what now?’ We’ve got some work to do.”

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.