LEADING OFF 
No. 8 Loyola Chicago (16-2, 8-2 MIVA) hosts No. 7 CSUN for a top 10 matchup on Saturday, March 22 at 5 p.m inside Gentile Arena.   

QUICK HITS 

• The Ramblers are coming off a 3-1 victory over the No. 17 Buckeyes on Thursday, March 20. Loyola out-blocked Ohio State 11-3 and the team recorded 11 aces.  
• Loyola earned back-to-back MIVA Player of the Week honors after Nicodemus Meyer was named defensive this week (March 18) and Ryan McElligott tabbed offensive last week (March 12). The Ramblers have collected seven weekly conference awards so far this season.   
• The Ramblers lead the MIVA in 10 categories: points (17.60/set), hitting percentage (.361), assists (12.32/set), kills (13.12/set), service aces (1.96/set), blocks (2.53/set) opponent hitting percentage (.220), opponent assists (10.29/set), opponent kills (10.79/set) and opponent service aces (1.00/set).  
• Nationally, Loyola ranks third in assists per set, fifth in kills per set, fifth in blocks per set, fifth in hitting percentage and fifth in aces per set.  
• Individually, Parker Van Buren is the MIVA leader in kills/set (4.32), aces/set (0.56) and points/set (5.26) while McElligott leads the league in assists/set (10.91) and Meyer is second in blocks/set (1.21). Nationally, Meyer ranks second in blocks/set, Van Buren is fourth in kills/set and McElligott is fourth in assists/set. 
• Head coach Shane Davis remains the winningest coach in program history with a 280-90 ledger and a .757 winning percentage.      

SCOUTING REPORT 
CSUN (15-4, 0-2 The Big West) is coming off a five-set comeback against No. 15 Lewis on Thursday, March 20 in Romeoville, Ill. Despite being out-blocked and earning 10 less kills than the Flyers, the Matadors performance at the service line helped lift them to the gritty victory. Previously this season, CSUN defeated then-No. 10 Pepperdine in four sets, 3-1 (Feb. 8).   

Offensively, Jalen Phillips is the team leader in kills with 276 total and a 4.38 per set average on .325 hitting, ranking him fifth in the nation. Donovan Constable orchestrates the offense with 10.15 assists/set, putting him at No. 10 in the country. At the net, Stilian Delibosov ranks fifth in the country and leads CSUN with 69.0 total blocks (1.17/set). 

SERIES HISTORY 
This will be the first matchup between the two programs since 2019 when the Ramblers swept the Matadors in Northridge, Calif. Loyola holds the overall series advantage, 5-4, with CSUN. The Ramblers have won the last three meetings from 2017-19.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream the match on Marquee Sports Network and ESPN+. Follow men's volleyball on Instagram and X @RamblersMVB for in-game updates.