LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team (4-7, 1-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) returns home to face No. 1 Cal State Northridge (9-2, 6-2 MPSF) on Friday night and No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (4-7, 4-4 MPSF) on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena. Earlier this season, UCSD suffered a three-set sweep to CSUN on Jan. 13. The Tritons have faced the Gauchos twice this season, with each team winning a match in the fifth set. UCSD enters the week in 11th-place in the MPSF, but just two games behind 8th-place UC Santa Barbara.

Last week, Cal State Northridge defeated USC in five sets, and lost to Pepperdine in four sets. CSUN has a balanced attack as Theo Edwards leads the Matadors with 4.17 kills per set. Tanner Nua averages 3.10 kills per set and Kevin McKniff averages 2.78 kills per set. Matt Stork averages 13.17 assists per set and Ali'I Keohohou has a team high 2.71 digs per set. Jacek Ratajczak leads CSUN with 1.00 blocks per set.

In January, CSUN swept UCSD 30-24, 30-26, 30-28. CSUN hit at a .320 clip while UCSD managed a .174 percentage. Edwards led CSUN with 14 kills. The Matadors lead the all-time series 49-2.

UC Santa Barbara lost two five-set matches last week to USC and Pepperdine. Before last week, the Gauchos had won three straight MPSF matches, defeating UC Irvine, Stanford and Pacific.

Jeff Menzel leads UCSB with 5.38 kills per set, while Cullen Irons adds 3.78 kills per set. Dylan Davis hits at a team-high .361 clip and Sam Moisenco leads UCSB with 1.02 blocks per set. Vince Devany averages 12.90 assists per set and Andy McGuire adds 2.90 digs per set.

The Tritons defeated the Gauchos at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational, while UCSB defeated UCSD during the conference opening week. UCSB leads the all-time series 34-5, however UCSD has four wins against UCSB since the 2008 season.

Last week UCSD lost in four sets at home to Long Beach State and travelled to Fullerton to defeat Hope International.

Jason Spangler has a shot to pass Tom Black (1,268 kills) on the UCSD career kills chart this week. Spangler enters the week with 1,259 career kills, third all-time at UCSD. The all-time mark is held by Jim Waller (1,301) set from 2001-04. Frank Fritsch is currently in fourth-place with 1,153 career kills.

Phil Bannan continues to pile up the assists as the junior setter is already third in school history with 2,660 career assists.