Matadors Storm Back to Top UCSB in Five Sets

Saturday, October 24

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

5-15, 4-4BWC

UC Santa Barbara

6-14, 2-7BWC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
UC Santa Barbara	25	25	21	23	10	2
CSUN	8	19	25	25	15	3

Photo by: Juan Ocampo

Matadors Storm Back to Top UCSB in Five Sets

10/24/2015 11:06:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

En Español

NORTHRIDGE, CA - After dropping the first two sets to visiting UC Santa Barbara, CSUN stormed back to win the final three sets to top the Gauchos 8-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-10 in a Big West match Saturday at The Matadome.

The win snaps a four-match slide for the Matadors who improve to 5-15 overall and even their Big West record at 4-4.

The young CSUN squad showed some veteran savvy after dropping the first two sets in largely forgettable fashion. The Matadors hit -.182 while scoring just eight points in the opening set before hitting .088 to drop the second 25-19. After using a 6-2 lineup for much of the season, CSUN went back to the traditional 5-1 set in the last two matches and sophomore Lauren Conati provided a spark over the final three sets on Saturday.

Conati came on for Maddie Leiphardt and recorded 27 assists over the final four-plus sets. Senior Cieana Stinson and Julie Haake each had 13 kills to lead CSUN while Nada Dragovic and Rachel Diaz added eight kills apiece. Diaz hit a match-high .545 on 11 attacks to go with one ace and one block. Dragovic narrowly missed her second double-double of the season after adding 10 digs while also serving two of CSUN's nine aces.

"This was a great team effort and a great team win," said CSUN head coach Jeff Stork. "When we ran the 6-2 we were limited in terms of moves but it's nice to know we have players ready to come in and do a good job. Lauren made some good choices and did a good job for us. Overall I'm really pleased with the win tonight."

The Matadors, who had several statistical advantages in the loss to Cal Poly on Friday, wound up being out-hit by the Gauchos .254 (51-17-134) to .146 (57-33-164) and out-blocked by the wide margin of 16.0-3.0. CSUN did aid its cause with nine aces, two also coming from Katie Sato, while UCSB served 12.

The Gauchos dominated the first two sets before the Matadors got their offense in gear. CSUN hit .200 in winning the third set 25-21 before hitting .196 in a come-from-behind 25-23 win in the fourth. The Matadors then hit a blistering .412 in the fifth before nearly surrendering an 8-3 lead. A 4-0 Gaucho run cut the lead to 8-7 when Dragovic ended the UCSB run with a kill. But three straight Gaucho points, the last coming on an ace, put UCSB on top 10-9. A pair of Gaucho miscues on the next two points put CSUN back on top 11-10 and ensuing kills from Owens, Diaz and an ace from Dragovic on match point sealed the win for the Matadors.

"We created our own problem in the first two sets and we provided the cure for the problem," added Stork. "We committed too many errors for my liking but we finally were able to turn the light on and compete."

Ali Barbeau had a match-high 14 kills to lead UC Santa Barbara which dropped to 6-14 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

CSUN heads back on the road for its next three matches beginning next Friday at UC Davis.

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